blonde poker forum

On another thread the original Poker Million final came up in conversation.

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=633

Notice the massive pay jumps.. £1 million was guaranteed for first and that meant huge differentials between the top 3 finishers prize money.

When they got to 3 handed Duthie and Dobson played a massive allin preflop.

John 4 bet shoved with A2 and Dobbo made the call with 33.

John spiked the ace, knocked out Dobbo and took a huge chip lead which he parlayed into outright victory and a prize of a coooool million.

Duthie went onto to use that million to found the EPT and he also became a member of Team Pokerstars and has considerable success on and off the table since. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=64190

Dobbo would have been considered by most to be a better player at the time. But the loss devastated him and he was never the same again. And he's not had a cash since 2004. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=69

Just imagine if that ace hadn't come. Very likely there would be no EPT today. John would almost certainly not be the poker celeb he is today and Dobbo would have the million in his pocket and I reckon would have gone on to mucho success in the poker world.

Has one hand of poker ever changed your life?

A8ss > 99 aipf vs 1BigAceHole bvb in TCOOP.

Difference between 20th and 1st.

If it wasn't for me turning an A I'd still be broke. Was getting to a pretty depressing stage as well.

For me it was during this tournament:

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=1150

I was middle of the pack going into the final.

One of the first hands N Oakley raised in early position.

I reraised OTB with 99.

He called.

Flop came A82 or something.

He checked I shoved, he insta called with AA.

Almost unheard of for anyone to slowplay aces like this in those days.

He owned me.

It came running clubs turn and river for me to make a backdoor flush.

And I went on to win the tournament.

I had booked a few days off work the next week to go to a tournament somewhere.

My boss phoned me up on the Monday and said "we have a few people called in sick, I really need you to postpone your time off and come in".

Emboldened by just pocketing 40 grand, I said. "I'm sorry I can't I am going to Walsall this week for a big tournament"

"we really need you Keith, you won't be doing your prospects much good if you go ahead and take this time off".

"No worries, I quit".

And I haven't had a "proper" job since.

As for N Oakley, I have no clue what happened to him. Don't even know his first name. He certainly outplayed me completely that day.

But my life would have been completely different if I hadn't quit that day. (Even if I had eventually quit - which is possible-  I met my partner a couple of weeks later at York races, when if I hadn't won that tournament I would have been at work)

Jeeeeeeeeeezuz - that's what you call top heavy money    ,,,,       50k,100k, 1mill.

Has Mr Dobson retired from poker?

great story keith

life is certainly full of small things making big differences

He had some time at Her Majestys Hotel, I think he's out now.

Think he might be a poker dealer somewhere.

Ah, that would explain the sudden drop off in HM entries.

If they did do a deal (John still maintains they didn't), it was only done when they were heads up and not three handed.

(great story keith

life is certainly full of small things making big differences)

+1


Incredible that such an unlikely turn of cards changed your life in this way....

Dobbo always denied it too, but whispers were that they took something like 250k each, not sure if its true but Dobbos was also punting a lot larger all of a sudden.

Fair to say it probably wont change his too much.... currently on main event FT!!

What a sicko... pfft ill not feel too bad then ;) hehe

Lol, see his cheeky attempt to get $12k more out of the deal ? Then snap dealt when they said lets play then.

Yeah:

$245k and i deal
(13k more)

hahahahaha what a hero

Think he was working at the Western for a while, dunno if he still is..

That was the last time I saw him, he definitely had a job at The Western, but that would be a good 5 years ago.

Great idea for a thread, Keith, well done.

Were you at Blue Sq in 2002 when that happened?

I wasn't directly involved in this hand, but everyone in the room knew what was going on.
Nail biting stuff, geeg Jen.

(http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq267/ppokerfan/DB041DCE-1FF9-4019-8EBF-6BFD882CA3CA-4932-00000434BEB679AF.jpg)

Had freerolled in for 30fpps.

Oh my word!

EPT, Deauville, around 2006 I think, & Jen had got there via the Blue Square "Usual Suspects" thing.

This was on the cash bubble, the two hands were Q-Q & A-K, & the villain was Jon "Texas" Hewston.  Jen lost the hand, & with it a very sizeable chunk of money. Jon had a MONSTER stack but dusted it off very quickly.

Jen & I travelled home via Paris, & Eurostar, & we played Gin Rummy on the train the whole way (whilst John Kabbaj looked on in utter bemusement) for M & M's. I lost a packet.

I cannot explain Jen's jumper, nobody ever could, but it was responsible for her then nick, "Mrs Merton".

What an amazing Lady she is, as chance has it, she did last night's TV show next door with young Snoopy.

Confirmed that photo was Feb 2006.

Quite a list of players cashed, memory city that.

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=14280

Whatever happened to Peter Roche, not seen him in an age?

Answering my own question, Peter Roche seems to be doing OK, & getting the lot in Marrakech.


http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=202

Too good.

A8 > KK heads up vs Pete Chara in DTD £300 deepstack back in May 2010.  8 high flop, I called his all in shove over my bet and I turned an Ace.  It changed my life in 2 ways.  Firstly it was the first step to me being able to leave my job (which I disliked).  Secondly it made me believe in fate.  About 2 months before this hand took place we bought a new used car.  When we went to test drive it at the garage, the guy drove it round for us onto the road as we were stood on the pavement watching him.  As the car approached I turned to my husband and said "well we have to buy it, look at the number plate".  The reg of the car was AC08 KJK.  We did buy the car (not because of that!).  Only when we had walked to the car in the DTD car park early in the morning on the day of my deepstack win did one of our friends point out that the reg number of the car was almost identical to the final heads up hand.  Not sure whether it was fate or whether it was just a tad weird!

its a cardigan not a jumper

Excuse the essay, for the tl:dr brigade there are cliffs at the bottom.

Back in the days before the UIGEA, us poker media folk used to get freerolled into a lot of tournaments in return for coverage – of course this still happens  but on a lesser scale.

The absolute peak of this – for me anyway – was a trip to the 2006 Aruba Poker Classic, a $5,000 buy-in tournament in a tropical paradise, yum. As an aside the UIGEA actually passed on the final day of this tournament, so not only was it a watershed in my poker development, but also in poker itself.

At this point I’d be playing poker for about 12 months, mostly in Matt Dale’s free pub poker league in Bath and the odd £20 f/o at Stanleys in Bristol. I had very little online experience, was a losing player at $10 sit and gos and didn’t much care for online poker, to the extent I would go six months without internet when I moved flat soon after. In short, a $500 buy-in would’ve been massive; a $5k was unfathomable.

The hand that changed my life happened about eight hours into day one. I’d had a tough starting table with Nenad Medic and JJ Liu on it and then got moved to the direct left of Matt Hawrilenko. Anyway after six hours I had increased my starting stack by 500 to 10,500, I was glad of the dinner break and read some of Harrington on Hold’em about inflection points, rofl. In the next two hours I got up to 25,000, blinds were now 300-600/75.

I then get moved to a new table, a young Asian kid made it 2,400 utg+2 and I look down at queens (one off the button I think) and make it 7,500. As I wrote at the time, ‘he doesn’t look happy, he counts out his chips and after thinking for a minute re-raises me all-in (he covers). Everything about his body language, his slight over-raise from early position and the counting out of his chips to check he has me covered makes me think he has A-K.’
I then tanked and genuinely considered folding, I had 17,000 at 300/600, which was plenty and I was playing in a massive buy-in, I never thought I’d ever play a tournament with a buy-in anywhere near $5k, no long run, luck will even itself out here. Eventually I nit roll call him and he tables AcKc. The flop was a stomach churning club-club-blank. Fortunately the board bricked it as much as I was and I held.

Although it happened on Day 1 and the bubble didn’t burst till mid-way through Day 2, this was the biggest pot I played in terms of big blinds before making the money. I went on to bust 24th for $14,900, still my biggest live cash and about half-a-year’s salary for a staff writer. I had such a great time, both in terms of the trip (also got to play a $2k Blackjack tournament!), but also in getting to play against and observe players like Cliff Josephy, Taylor Caby, Justin Bonomo, Geeforce and Terry Eischens, that I just immersed myself in poker and did all I could to improve. This was the point at which went from just a casual hobby that I was happy to play and write about until a job on a sports/men’s/some other kind of mag came up, to an aggressive hobby. The kicker to it is I endeavored to qualify for it next year, won a seat in a $500 satellite and cashed again.

Cliffs:
Freerolled into $5k live MTT in 2006 (mbn)
Win race with QQ vs AK midway through Day 1 (wal)
Go on to cash for $14,900 and take poker more seriously

Very recently actually.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/1828756_7A4E74B5FC

8th gtd 10kish, 150kish for 1st.

Have one of the suits covered, thought he had too many outs ott :(

Also lost JJ v xxhh on xxxhJhxh   when I was 2/10 vs 1/10 in one of the biggest Sunday Millions from last year.

I've really tried to become more of a feature on the live circuit and closeish to the bubble lost AJ v A10 (Brammer) v XX (folded) for nice stack in Prague which hurt alot.

I'm more of a cash grinder, but every time I have a go and get close it has been taken away from me. Hurts quite a lot actually.

O rly

Surely this has kept your life the same, and not changed it?

<----------- Bad beat thread

I bust this tourney with 44 against KJ. Probably would have won it otherwise.

talking of Marrakech. I've been there once.

I've never had a 6 figure £ score ( Morrocan Diraham us worthless ) but am still haunted by my Irish open exit where I would be gtd 100k. Probably would not have changed my life then but it most certainly would now.

Very recently actually.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/1828756_7A4E74B5FC

8th gtd 10kish, 150kish for 1st.

Have one of the suits covered, thought he had too many outs ott

Also lost JJ v xxhh on xxxhJhxh   when I was 2/10 vs 1/10 in one of the biggest Sunday Millions from last year.

I've really tried to become more of a feature on the live circuit and closeish to the bubble lost AJ v A10 (Brammer) v XX (folded) for nice stack in Prague which hurt alot.

I'm more of a cash grinder, but every time I have a go and get close it has been taken away from me. Hurts quite a lot actually.



Bad Beat or not still the worst time to have it happen to you !

heh :)

it changed my life because I probably carried on working rather than rubbing my titties with money and losing the rest of it on the circuit/ or winning millions on the circuit.

excluding the fact its a bad beat and not changed your life, winning that pot takes you from 6/8 to 5/8 or something! Hardly guarantees you the win!

you should have just won the sunday 500......

screen names?

who are you?

I haven't played that many decent enough games that are worth that much, but one I can remember where I went deep in tourney was DTD deep a few months ago.

I can't remember action that much, I raise MP, next on shoves all in for her tourney life with 99. I snap call with AA. 9 on flop. It was difference between me being a CL into day three and a small cash, which it did end up being for £1800.

Claim to fame is that I chopped Naps rebuy HU with Ali Mallu for £3k and he never does deals.

Amazing how quickly this thread went south.

Nothing poker players love more than a thinly disguised bad beat story. Which reminds me of a time I was chip leader in a tournament...

Yep, so true.

It's not even like they were 98% fav either  ;whistle;

Don't know what you expected?  It seems guaranteed to produce a stream of bad beat stories.  Indeed it started with one.  Given the nature of tournaments most people's significant hands result in their exit.

Or were you just referring to how bad you must run to only finish 3rd in the Sunday 500 when playing tourneys part time?  So sick.

Expected people to understand the concept that 'nothing changing' is not the same as 'life changing' maybe?

loool doooooby funday five hundred tho.



Is it just me thinking that surely back in the day 3betting the button vs ep with 99 was very loose and not necessarily optimal? Need stack sizes keeef :p

Here's a bad beat that changed everyone's life.

First APAT National event, I manage to win with Kh Qh v Tc Ts when it was three-handed to give me a massive chip-lead from which I went on to win the tournament.  Because of that tournament/win, Tikay and Des mentioned blonde poker, and that I should check out the forum - and so I joined up. 

Haven't left since.

^^^^

Another monsterous bad beat...

A win for us all, wp

I mean

In those days I would be in the top 2% of most aggro tournament players around.

While it would b a loose rr for most (many would set mine in this spot), 99 would have been way better than most would have expected to m to be 3 betting with, and I thought I could induce a loose shove.

When he flatted, I remember quite clearly I put him on JJ, TT, 88 or 77 specifically. I thought the ace flopping was perfect.

[ ] I was right.

The example in the op recognises life can change through not winning.  I won't bore you with mine, but mortgage free and not mortgage free is life changing in most people's books.  

I guess there was a significant hand that set me on the road to winning that first online multi, and that probably did change my life more, but buggered if I can remember it.  

The hand that changed my life?

Easy.

It was the first hand of poker I ever played, & I was instantly fascinated & addicted.

I immediately took the game up, stopped my Sports Betting, took early retirement from work, & travelled the world playing poker. I met thousands of people who are now acquaintances of friends, & I worked for William Hill, Sporting Bet, Poker Night Live, Sky Poker, wrote regular articles for CardPlayer, AP, Poker Europa, & Poker Player (USA), did thousands of hours of TV work, & helped found APAT & blonde.

It changed my life considerably, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.

It was definitely a hand that changed my life.

PS - what was the hand? No idea, but I almost certainly folded pre. 

Sure, but do we need a thread of people who had five numbers on the lottery?

That Usual Suspects promotion was a great innovation.

And that is a fantastic photo.

I assume this is just a straw man and that you do realise that there is an enormous gap between the chance of getting 5 numbers correct and the chance of getting 6 correct.  

I didn't start the bad beat thread, just think the direction was always inevitable.

A lot more ppl have came "close" to winning that life changing amount than those lucky few who actually do wins, obv, so ye inevitable and thus a thread that can never be balanced.

I think the hand involving Jen at Deauville is a perfect example.

She is a really good player and with the chip lead ITM, she would have every chance of going all the way.

Don't now if she had any ambition to play professionally, but if she did, sh could have parlayed a 6 figure score into a totally different way of life.

i live within 5 miles of 3 lottery jackpot winners ( 1 was a syndicate of 12 steelworkers ) and across the Trent from a Euro winner (0nly 2 miles as the crow flies)

I wasn't being entirely serious, and I'm now not sure if you are trying to engage in intellectual d*** measuring contest or you simply misunderstood me. I was just trying to make light of the issue as most of these posts seemed to miss the central point of the OP, at least as far as I understood it. There will always be a lot of losers and not many winners in poker. And people not winning something and having their lives remaining the same, while having some interest, is a lot less interesting than a twist of fate, an unexpected outdraw or a mistake leading to a total change of their fortunes. Well at least it is to me.

The thing about losing pots is it's rarely going to change your life.

I guess Phillip Hilm losing that pot to Jerry Yang at the WSOP FT might be an exception!

If John hadn't hit that ace, who knows how his life would be different.

I'll ask him next time I see him, if he had the EPT idea before or after this score. And if he have had enough funding to go through with it if he hadn't won the PM.

It's 100% certain if I hadn't hit running clubs I would not have met Katharine or ended up moving to Yorkshire and having Jake arrive.

Who knows what I'd be doing now if I had finished 9th in that tournament.

I don't recall all nine or ten of the "Unusual Suspects", but they included Jen, Flushy, J P Kelly, Burnley John, Mickey Wernick, Simon Nowab, & At-It Bradley.

The whole thing was run by Johnny Raab, & the heads up final was played in the lobby of the Grand Casino, Helsiinki, with two dealers, Raaby & I, & Jen won through, & bagged her EPT Seats, at both Deauville & Monte Carlo iirc.

The first round had been held in a private bar overlooking Trafalger Square, & the guy who lived above the bar was Sir Clive Sinclair, & he joined us for the evening. He plonked himself in an armchair with a glass of whisky, promptly nodded off, & never woke whilst we were there, which must have been 5 or 6 hours.

Agreed, a great promo.

Joe Grech and Stuart Nash were involved too

I should probably add it wasn't exactly life changing but it ties in with the op obv and the whole experience was pretty amazing for me back then.

Was Martin Green with the suspects ?

Stuart Nash & Joe Grech, yes, Martin Green, no.

Whatever happened to Martin Green?  Hasn't had a cash in a while and haven't seen Ken Barlow at the tables for a while.

Saw him at Epsom for the Oaks in 2011.

He tipped me a good value loser.

he's living in wales with a new bird absolutely top bloke, last time i saw him was at cheltenham last year

remember the Farha/Moneymaker HU

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnV1jx8UlkA

Its a pretty poor bluff, very surprised it got through! If Farha calls, how much different is poker today?

I had a hand once years ago when I was into a cash game for my absolute net, and got the lot in vs Lawrence Gosney on JT8 with JT against Q9, maybe a £2.8k or something, I was so crushed when I saw his hand I knew this was literally the whole lot back then as well lol and all my friends were broke as well so no1 to borrow off! snap pinged a JACK on the turn though wiiiiiii

Lawrence is such a class act he 100% knew how massive that pot was for me and he gave me a little wink afterwards and said nice hand.

Just to sidetrack your thread for a min! I used to play alot wt Ian back in the day , whatever happened to him as havnt seen him in years? Was a really nice guy an we got along well( which may surprise you lol)reminds me of the days when Hamish Shar an Devilfish were fighting for the same girl!

If you had read the thread we actually discussed this.

He was inside for a bit, but he's out now and he's a poker dealer somewhere we think.

BTW. It's obvious that you think I don't like you.

This isn't true, I have no opinion, because I don't know you.

I do know for sure you can be very annoying at the poker table.

This opinion I believe I passed on to you in no uncertain manner.

But I bear you no ill will.

Good luck.

About 3 years ago.  Totally and utterly busto and just coming out from recovering from a couple of large operations.  Was starting to look for jobs etc.  Was a bit of a spin up merchant then.

Had £27 exactly in Sky and probably about the same in my wallet.  Won a flip on a 15/30p table with AK v JJ with a nice A river.

Stood from that table with £90 and promptly sat at 2 25/50p tables.  Spun both up to stacks of 250/300 and then finally 1 tabling .50/£1 at 7am and running upto a £500 stack which left me with around £1k.

Never did follow up on any of the jobs I applied for.  Never been close to busto since.  Ground up a fairly decent roll online and then started playing the UK live circuit a lot more, and have played the WSOP Main twice, played in various different countries and also have the honour of being on Sky Poker TV a few times a month. 

Met a lot of SO many interesting people/characters along the way that wouldn't have been at all possible if I hadn't have been in poker.  One of the best things about the game is that, contrary to the popular opinion that its a game of gamblers and degens, it attracts people from all walks of life.

Really, really doubt any of that would have happened had I lost that flip.

Bink.

Great story.

Except the gamblers and degens are usually the most interesting ones you will meet.

Great thread if people could avoid the thinly veiled bad beat stories.  I had one particular hand that changed my life for sure and for me was a real personal defining moment in my poker life and i think about it a lot in terms of what could have been. The truth is on reflection i played it terribly and it cost me massively. Had i been a better player and played it better i might have serious money locked up now, gone on to win more and still love the game. On the plus side other aspects of my life have developed outside of poker since that hand, which i wouldn't have had that hand been different and i actually wouldn't swap what i have now, so maybe it worked out well in real life terms.

It shows in small samples what incredibly thin lines separate the winners and the losers in real money terms in this game - thats why we love tournaments.

P.s. thanks for depressing me Keith x

Hand details please.

See pm, cant be arsed reliving it on here

i had 3 hands in one tourny that changed my life they got me hooked on poker and helped me realize  that on any given day i could hold my own with some of the countries best

they date back too my 3rd trip to  london and it was in a £750 freezeout with £50k for the winner

the first hand involved padraig parkinson when i turned the nut straight and he rivered a baby straight when he announced straight i was gutted thinking we were splitting the pot
my next visit to london he introuduced me to some top class players and told me a story how he sent drinks over to a man in a wheelchair and his wife all night believe the man to be me
and only found out after they asked the waiter why he was sending them drinks

the 2nd hand i had just made the money and was in MP against Ram's from the hendon mob big blind ram knew i was nervous as we had spoken a few times on previous visits to lomdon and
again before we sat down for the day i held AQ and he did a stop and go with an side straight draw on an AT6 flop

these 2 hands gave me confidence i had never had on a table  before and helped me realize although i am a fish i didnt need to sit back and let the game pass me by as i did on my first trip too london when i was sat between the camel and scotty nyguen passing hand after hand after i was getting 3 and 4 bet to kingdom come


the final hand that changed my life was a plan cold deck in a hand where myself and slightly bigger stack both with nearly 2x average clashed in a pot that would of put me in great shape to win some life changing (for me) money he had previously cold 4 bet shoved a near average stack with Jc9c got in with AK and 66 and got JJ to fold face up hitting not 1 but 2 9s
i found KK UTG he 3bet me i 4 bet shoved he obvioulsy woke up with AA and my dreams of winning and be set up in poker were dashed as i min cashed in 14th spot

it was after that trip that i started playing for real money online after entering freerolls before that i was purely a fun money player

A Scotsman telling us about how his KK got done by AA should cost at least £5 in the tin.

Not a bad beat story. More a pwned one. Not really life-changing either, but the one I learned most from, so the most helpful to my time playing poker.

First time I'm in Vegas. 2008. Staying and mainly playing at Flamingo in the softest $1/$2 game around. Even I'm winning in it. My friend and I were essentially playing in the morning, making a few quid and then going to Caesar's to play the Deep stack event that day.

It's Day 1B of the Main Event but I'm happy to sit on a furry pink table with some middle aged people in braces and those glasses that have folding sunglass-lenses. That said, we've built a fun table and everyone's having a laugh. To my right is one Wayne "Hawaii 501" Mardle and we're sharing Spurs stories and being token Brits.

I'm also building a nice stack. There's a chap two to my left who I know only as "Bubba". He was a portly, ebullient fellow, with a North Florida drawl and a shirt so loud it interrupted any conversation within a hundred yards. He was betting blind, raising dark, calling for a laugh, buying drinks, pulling hundreds from a wedge, buying more drinks, bluffing twenty six streets and showing air, stacking, losing and being a comedy ledge. Not a moment of negativity embraced the table for five hours. Apart from the odd felted nit, everyone stayed and we had the most fabulous time.

I raise the button to $6 with Aspades Ac, playing about $600. Bubba tells me he folded a big blind back in 1982 and regretted it ever since. He calls.

Flop   7d 3d  5d

Bubba looks at me and continues the banter we've been having. "That looks like my kind of flop!" He bets $25. I think and make it $70. He sticks his stack in, making it all in for me to call.

I haven't played a >1k pot before and I'm sweating like a horse in a PrittStick factory. I ask him what I should do (seems only polite to ask...). He says "Depends what y'all have".

He is beaming like a Cheshire cat (or whatever the Florida equivalent of them is - a Marlin?) and his body language and demeanour have not changed one iota. I'm getting nothing.

"You got a pair?" He asks me, as I dwell.
"Am I allowed to tell you?" I smirk
"You can tell me what you like. My money's in the middle!"
We're still laughing. No one at the table minds the time this is taking, and everyone's enjoying the banter.

"So...you got a pair?"
"I might have", I venture
Bubba looked down with a knowing smile and uttered the words I'll never forget...

"Well, I've got outs"

With that, I decided to call. The biggest decision of my poker life to that date. £400 of my own money bet on a single comment. What a hero.

He flips over  4d 6d for the straight flush.

It was Steve McQueen being schooled by Edward G Robinson.

To make matters worse (yes, as I reached for more money...), Wayne Mardle turns to me and says "That was a really bad call without the ace of diamonds".

My head was a complete mess as the magnitude of the mistake I'd made began to sink in. Bubba was an absolute pleasure to play with, he was playing the main event the following day and I shook his hand as genuinely and earnestly as I have anyone else's.

He taught me a lesson that day I'll never forget.

I never said it was a bad beat just a cold deck in what was likely the biggest hand I will ever play

Sorry just read the op an responded to that! All updated now ! Ty ty, No hard feelings this side , I was probaly in the wrong I just spoke without thinking which I commonly do ! 

Great post.