blonde poker forum

im not sure if the 10,000th post is long post worthy thesedays, but ill give it a tl;dr anyhow. I started posting on blonde in 2005 I believe. I had followed tikays hendon mob tourney reports which at the time left me with a warmth inside. I used to play the £10rb's in sheffield and read Poker Europa and scoured through the results to see who had won what and where. My heros back then were names like Keith hawkins (who has become a friend of mine, and he's one of the only people on the list who has lived up to my expectations at age 18) barney, ross, ram, joe, devilfish, ali mallu, laurence gosney, gareth the nugget jones. These reports tikay did lit something up in me to believe that playing in these events was attainable.

So I followed like a young sheep to blondepoker and absolutely loved it. It filled a void in my life and filled a slot of time, between waking up and grinding. Back in the 2005/6/7 days I just grinded on the old tribeca networks and was regurlarly battling with Paul foltyn, chris moorman, david gent, james dempsey and many others who still call poker their proffession.
Those days were great, although we didnt quite understand how soft the tourneys were back then. We assumed  we were just insanely good. Looking back on some of my old posts on blonde im a little embarrased at how naiive and how bad a player I was back then. Some posts I remember calling camel out for being a jammy sod when he got there in a standard pot when my case money was on the line. Calling pab out on a hand where I was the one who made the mistake in the hand etc. Thankfully pab, being the gentlemen he is, didnt hold a grudge and we became friends and talked on msn a lot, i also bonded with flushy and moorman, who im happy to say im still good friends with to this very day.

Blonde Poker has evolved from 2005-2014 in the same way poker has.
In 2005 on the forums, there were a lot more 'characters' and there would be at least one tear up a week for everyone to munch popcorn in and pick a side. Poker in 2005 was much the same. A lot of characters, most of which didnt make thier living through poker, showed up to the live events. Every tourney i played live back then was awesome. Forgive me if nostalgia overcomes fact here but every cardroom just seemed buzzing back then. Laughter, banter and general merriment seemed to accompany every festival back then. The Northern Lights, xmas cracker, january sales, midlands meltdown etc have all now been replaced mainly by GUKPT.

Nowadays on blonde their is less banter but more information, better hand analysis and id say the average age of posters must be significanltly less than it was back in 2005. In poker as on blonde the average age of player in live uk events is a lot younger and on the tables there is less chat about how fit the dealer is or what will win the derby this year, and more analysis of every hand, which must get tedius to people as it does myself.

Ive been playing poker now for 9 years and ive leart a lot during this time.
Ive earnt and spent a hell of a lot of money during this time and I don't think id change much of it. I was beyond prodigal in my twenties, I travelled around everywhere, went on lavish nights outs, various trips to vegas, trips away with my friends etc. While I appreciate the younger pro's prudence thesedays im afraid that they will neglect their best years and be too life nitty without actually having lots of fun and enjoying themselves.

The most important thing ive learnt in poker however, is that its a lot like other jobs. You must work hard to win. There are of course exceptions to the rule but poker evolves all the time and if you don't put the hours in you wont win. Evidence of this can be found with all the live type pro's who were prominent in the late 90s early 2000s vanishing off the face off the earth. (see what happened to thread) This isnt because 'the kids are too good' Its because the kids practice (play) more and are willing to learn. A lot of people from the live poker background are insanely stubborn and unwilling to think that their bad run is anything but bad luck. Online guys stuck in a rut will routeinely seek out answers by asking peers, training sites, evaluating hands theyve played etc. Online it is immensly important to know the regs if you play Mid stakes or High stakes MTT. Not knowing them negates so much skill edge you have if you are a sunday only mtt grinder. A hell of a lot of people in poker rest on their laurels and expect to just win when they show up.

A lot of so called pro's play 1/2 live tourneys a week. This to me is absurd and unless you are in the top 1% of players in every field you play, its almost impossible to sustain. Chris Moorman, regarded by lots of folk as the best MTT player in the world went on a 3000 mtt downswing at $100 ABI
so in live terms thats a tourney everyday for close to 9 years! and Chris's online expences were minimal.

If you want to play poker for a living, WORK HARD, if you don't then do something else because if you dont work hard then eventually you will go broke. With very few exceptions. This is not me getting on a highhorse because I grind probably too much, this is someone who has been very lazy for a lot of my career.

I don't post as much on blonde as I used to, partly because it is a distraction when im grinding, some of it is because the topics seldom arouse me post and a little because im a cynical sharp sod most of the time nowadays :)

Ive made a lot of friends through blonde and hope to make a lot more. Heres to another 10k posts.

Congrats on 10000 post's Trigg.  True legend of the game both poker and punting.  Always a pleasure having a beer or two with you.

thanks mark, catch you soon

Nice post, with some very shrewd observations

A survivor, mr Claimeeeeer, is what you are

Very nice post Rick.

I hope you were wearing your silver shorts whilst typing it.

 :goodpost:


Confirmed legend.

Nice post Trigg.

Clever lad, despite looking otherwise 😀

Great post, and who doesn't love a mooch down memory lane <3

Very cool post.

Wasnt too long, please dont wait 10,000 more posts before your post another of these, maybe start a Trigg's corner.

enjoyed.

People like Trigg are what made & make Blonde great I think.

One of the world's best, funny, great fashion sense and doesn't even talk down to us

Proud the man is a Wednesdayite.

I remember the first time I met Trigg at the £20r at Naps, so many thoughts at that time.

- How bad is this guy at poker

- What an arrogant .....

- Who wears a brown leather jacket?

Now I think you're ok, just glad my horse didn't get lapped :D :D lol

Great post from a great chap. I wholeheartedly agree with almost everything you've said. I also wish I'd done a lot of things differently but turning back the clocks is just cheating.

Nice one Trigg on 10k posts.

Definitely one of the few guys in UK poker today (and maybe the youngest of those few) who fits in with the old and new school.

Great post.

I must admit I am surprised you have 10k posts, would have taken the under by miles.

wait till you see the fanny pack

Good post.  Post more.  You are missed.

TL;DR

One jest's obv. Nice post and gratz on it being your 10,000th

Nice post

Thinking about it this is a good first diary post......

Great read mate. Congrats!

Nice post congrats on 10,000 it is often funny to see how the game /blonde has moved on when old threads are bumped. Still don't think I've shared a table with you in Sheffield yet and nearly got the chance ok Friday but you joined just as I left. Definitely good for me as I spunked my money in west street live rather than on the poker table.

Good luck on the grind

Ooh, cracking Post.

I used to love doing those little tourney write-ups on THM. Now even THM, to all intents & purposes, has gone.

The Northern Lights, xmas cracker, january sales, midlands meltdown

Jeez, they were what our "live" poker world revolved around, at Blackpool, Walsall, Naps Sheffield & the like. We just went from one to the other. You remember "Shaf" @ Blackpool? Yikes. 

Think the first time you & I shared a Final Table with you was at Blackpool, around 2005. You owned me, obv. Nothing changes. That was the one where Ali Mallu made the Final with a ton of chips, but was refused entry on the day of the Final after an alleged indiscretion three days earlier elsewhere. So his chips were in play initally, but no Mr Mallu.  All very awkward. The TD was then known as "Yogi", aka Danny Ball, now at DTD. Best TD ever, never had to shout, he gained authority by almost whispering. 

So many stories.

Thanks for the Post, & the memories. 

Top lad that trigggga

On my 10,000th post, I posted a YouTube video of the scene in Bottom where they play chess.

I miss the £20 rebuys on a Friday night. Bizarrely, I was nostaligically discussing that very thing with a blondeite I spoke to for the first time on Saturday. They were exciting times, those comps. 1,000 starting chips. Blinds started at 25/50. Twenty bigs. If someone open-jammed, the table would roll their eyes in unison at this nutcase, ruining everyone's night. After the break - and £80 - you'd grind ten bigs or fewer for hours and chop it six handed. The Friday comp at the Broadway used to make£15k. FIFTEEN!

I once played a £10 rebuy at Star City that started twelve handed. Had three orbits in an hour and a half.

No idea why I miss those days. They were my apprenticeship years, I suppose.

I remember it very well, we were all sympathetic to Ali but at the same time we were all relieved, even though of course we couldnt say so. Ali was the most scary player i ever played against when i was 18. He pounced on weakness at every spot and seemed to know i was on my case money every time we played in £200+ tournies. Also of course, we all had a ladder immediately. Andy Bradshaw won that tourney and insisted that he bought everyone a drink. I was so happy to get my first packet of red fifties, of course only being young I celebrated by showing off, going to the local pub with a bunch of them.

Jeeeez only just noticed you had 13k posts! Gotta be most posts/day by a member average?

I think Wazz briefly beat him :D

Great post. So many similarities to how i found my way here in 2005. Scouring poker europa and the results on pokerineurope.com (remember that!) and a few other sites that no longer exist. 20 rebuys with shallow stacks and 15 minute clocks and 8 way chops were all part of the game. ICM didnt exist in people's minds either with sometimes at 4:15am the chip leader having one chip more than second place meant they got full first place prize money which meant much angle shooting from about 3:30am onwards.

The old days at those festivals that had proper feetival names were great and the characters were many and varied. It felt like a real build up to them too each month, whereas you can play a £1k+ event almost every week now.

I wonder what the game will be like in 2024.

Wazz held that record for a period but has tailed off the pace somewhat...

Someone in this very thread has him beat.

great post & thank you for introducing me to blonde.

Yes, I'm no tikay. But then, who is?

Once I've worked out why I have two ears and one mouth, I'll post less frequently. I should also start making a killing in the staking threads :)

Anyway, this isn't about me. This is actionman's diary. And long may it continue!

Great post and congrats on joining the 10k club.

Top bloke, this is by no means just because of your determination that I collected one of my biggest paydays in tournie poker. Still owe you a drink for that. I also remember the confidence in getting me out of the 2k hole for that comp.

Cheers  :cheers:

Great stuff.  Post more.

I'm really sad I didn't get into poker a few years earlier as it certainly sounds more 'fun'.

this


and this

Definitely was, it's still great though.

 :)up

We're on the third page and no one has posted THAT photo yet?

Good stuff, I even remember playing with you on Tribeca back in the day.

Never met you but only heard good things. Here's to 10k more.

When I first knew Trigg, he was only half my age. He's caught up a bit since then.

Happy 10000 mate.

He IS Yorkshire!  congrats

thanks guys, we still have a great community here!

Here he is, with his new fanny pack.

Congrats on 10k posts Trigg, legend.

Enjoyed having you on my table in the 6 max, congrats. (he who neither that old nor that new)