blonde poker forum

It's that time of year again...

I am pleased to announce this year's Blonde Cheltenham Tipster Competition.

There will be no fancy online spreadsheet this year, I will keep a spreadsheet and attempt to share;
Everyone's entries - between 12 midday and 1pm each day
Scores after each race

IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL IF EVERYONE COULD SUBMIT THEIR FRIDAY ENTRIES BY 10.30AM ON FRIDAY

The rules are as follows:

1. Entry is open to everyone upon payment of a £25 or £10 entry fee to me. You can send the money via bank or Paypal:
Paypal: stuart.hopkin@monarchuk.com
Bank Transfer: 40-35-18 91646753 S Hopkin

Please put your alias as the reference on the transfer.

Payment must be received by me before midday on Tuesday 12th March. If you are interested, please indicate below or PM me. Each person may enter up to a maximum of two times. Each entry costs £25 or £10.
There will be two pools for this event. One costing £10 and one costing £15. It will not be possible to enter the £15 pool on its own. The same selections will be entered in both pools. The object for this is to try to encourage more people to take part.

2. The competition will be run over the 28 races.

3. Each entrant will pick one horse per race. The selection must either be for a £10 win or a £5 each-way bet. Winnings will be settled on the basis of Starting Prices.
If you fail to make a selection or select a non-runner you will be assigned a random horse. I would prefer you pick a specific horse but to maintain the spirit of the previous comps will take instructions for "random" selections (e.g. first horse alphabetically) for each race if you do not have the time/inclination to make your own selections but, in a rather dictatorial manner, I am not going to allow selections such as "pick the SP favourite for every race" or attempts to circumvent this rule. For anyone who has entered but not submitted their selections by the deadline on any day you will be assigned a random horse.

4. The place component of an each-way bet will be decided using the following criteria:
1/4 the odds for a place for each horse officially returned on the results for each race on www.sportinglife.com

5. I will be using www.sportinglife.com for the purpose of deciding the result of each race.

6. Entries must be sent to me via PM by midday on the day of the races. I will then endeavour to make everyone's selections available on the forum by 12:30pm that day. This will hopefully give you time to marvel at each other's selections before the first race starts.

7. The winner will be the person who makes most profit (or least loss) over the course of the festival.

8. My decision is final in all matters (until proven otherwise).



The payout structure will be as follows:

1-10 entrants
1st 100%

11-20 entrants
1st 75%
2nd 25%

21-30 entrants
1st  60%
2nd 30%
3rd 10%

>30 entrants
tba


Paid


In

Thanks Stu, £25 paid.


"Your payment of £25.00 to Mr Stuart Hopkin has been successfully made."

Just reading this snap reminded me of the much missed Vince, aka Mere Novice.


I would prefer you pick a specific horse but to maintain the spirit of the previous comps will take instructions for "random" selections (e.g. first horse alphabetically) for each race if you do not have the time/inclination to make your own selections but, in a rather dictatorial manner, I am not going to allow selections such as "pick the SP favourite for every race" or attempts to circumvent this rule. For anyone who has entered but not submitted their selections by the deadline on any day you will be assigned a random horse.

He had such a distinctive style of writing.

Managed to get logged in on my phone, but the browser on PC has no memory 😂

In for a pony, obv!

Sent on PayPal.

Cheers :)

Paid
Tikay
Marky147
StuartHopkin

In
AlanC
bagel
booder
Doobs

In for a macaroni

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner

In
AlanC
bagel
booder
Doobs

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC

In
bagel
booder
Doobs

Thanks Stu £25 paid

We've made your payment and saved your payee.

The money should be with them within 2 hours.

Shipped

Thank you Stuart

When is it?

In for £25 & sent

Starts next Tuesday

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally

In
bagel
Doobs

I would love to take part in the smallest one think I won this last time. But no way to pay just now stuck in hospital and need my pc for paypal. If I am home by Monday I am in if I am not I will pass.

In please. Will pay Thursday/Friday (£25)

Many thanks for running this and also allowing me to finish above Tikay as standard/normal.

I will take part, money going across shortly

For you Mr Iron I do believe a credit facility could be available if you wish to take part until you are able to send, or win which ever comes first  :D

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally

In
bagel
Doobs
Tightend
Knottikay
Ironside

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally
£25 ironside
£25 Tightend

In
bagel
Doobs
Knottikay

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally
£25 ironside
£25 Tightend
£25 Knottikay

In
bagel
Doobs

Brings us to 11 paid which would be

£206.25 for 1st place and £68.75 for 2nd place

Thank you to who ever paid my entry I should be out sometime next week touch wood I will get the money back to you.

Now it's case of looking at horses on phone as the WiFi in the hospital blocks betting sites.

Hope you are well soon ironside - a vpn of some kind should sort out the hospital anti-gambling firewall. (some betting sites block vpns but racing post etc should be ok)

I will tether my tablet to my phone got 1.2 gb left left this month, just trying not to run over 🙃.  But looks like I am going to get out Monday to get the antibiotics on a picc line for 6 weeks. So won't need the rest of the 1.2gb anyway.

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally
£25 ironside
£25 Tightend
£25 Knottikay
£25 Doobs

In
bagel

1st £225
2nd £75

Glad you're escaping in time for Chelts!

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally
£25 ironside
£25 Tightend
£25 Knottikay
£25 Doobs
£25 bagel

1st £243.75
2nd £81.25

That is everyone on the interest list paid

Not a bad turnout, roll on Tuesday!

1 day to go!

As Mr Bagel has very efficiently already supplied me with his selections, I will send my selections to him first thing each morning to ensure nothing under handed is going on later in the week  ;)

OK I won't get home today or tomorrow will work round winners wifi and send selections

sent £25 for entry thanks for running!

Paid
£25 Tikay
£25 Marky147
£25 StuartHopkin
£25 Karabiner
£25 AlanC
£25 booder
£25 typhoon
£25 jakally
£25 ironside
£25 Tightend
£25 Knottikay
£25 Doobs
£25 bagel
£25 redsimon

1st £262.50
2nd £87.50

Morning all

Seem very busy at work this morning, do they not know what day it is!

Luckily middle childs football is cancelled this afternoon due to the rain so will be able to update quickly until 3.30pm but then it might go a bit sporadic.

I have sent my selections to bagel

Still waiting on

Tikay
Tightend
Knottikay
Doobs

Thanks

Are we allowed to make subs for NRs

Still waiting on Knottikay and Doobs......

I would say yes

Just doobs now

Sorry.  Am crap, will send

Dumb thing is I did them last night, but didn't send as you said you were going to do yours first thing.   Worked out well :/

Everyone is on board

That is not easy to see

Will try to tidy this up during the afternoon

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Ap9F6gyaxhh-gXjq7VriRFmv5qTzB1nDe2PMjQnBXc/edit?usp=sharing (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Ap9F6gyaxhh-gXjq7VriRFmv5qTzB1nDe2PMjQnBXc/edit?usp=sharing)

Chicken dinner

ironside   45
Knottikay   45
Tikay           31
jakally   31
tightend   31

Everyone else 0

I do believe

Stop the count

ICM chop?  8)

all recieved

good luck all

hopkin gets a winner

Shocking

Some good judges were on that one..

ironside   45
Knottikay   45
Tikay           31
jakally   31
tightend   31
Marky 147   30
StuartH   30
Karabiner   30
doobs   8.5
AlanC   0
booder   0
typhoon   0
bagel   0
redsimon   0

Bit clearer

After race 3

You have incorrectly given me an E/W return on Meeting of the Waters in the 2.50. I had it down to win. Please take 11 points off me.

Farce.

Skybet has me down as 3 ew returns on my account but just noticed no BOG anyone offer BOG anymore for an unrestricted mug punter?

Oh.....you forgot to add the last 3 players scores for race 3 too. You may have just dashed off on the school run or just had a tikay moment.

they dont offer bog for extra place or money back if races which first 3 races were

Cool thanks

FFS!

Doing school pickup, will fill in all missing scores and make corrections at 5.30 so we are ready for tomorrow!

Sorry

No need to say sorry. I do tables over at Sky Poker, so I am hopefully helping you out. Zero criticism from me (Tikay was the only one taking the P for the record  ;ifm; ) Thanks for running the comp.

Tikay is always taking the piss..he is so perfik!

I actually had him down as a kin liability

Stuart your doing fine job, well done

Corrected

Spreadsheet complete but if anyone has time to double check it I would be grateful

The standings after day 1 but before any objections are;

2nd Race -  DOOBS had Il Etait Temps as a WIN not e/w (Minus 8.5)
              - REDSIMON had Found A Fifty as E/W . No points awarded but was 2nd at 13/2

7th Race - Marky147 had Mr Vango  as E/W. You awarded a place but it was only a 7 horse race and it finished 3rd (Sky were playing extra place) . Minus 19 .
                DOOBS as above too.

Sorry guys, but there is money on this.

good spotting, even i thought id had a complete blank :)

Knottikay is a grass -30 points.  :)

No it is ok, was thinking that looks too much and was about to check. 

Real life. Backed one horse. Lost. Obv

Note to all in case anyone missed it;



The 16.10 (as was) Glenfarclas Chase has been abandoned & will NOT take place.




https://twitter.com/CheltenhamRaces/status/1767823611203576001



That means revised timings for all races as follows;



As a result of the abandonment of the 5th race today, the revised race times for Wednesday 13th March are as follows:

Race 1: 13.45
Race 2: 14.30
Race 3: 15.15
Race 4: 16.00
Race 5: NA
Race 6: 16.50
Race 7: 17.30

No need to apologise

I will get these sorted this morning, in the office today so hopefully less mistakes, but I would be grateful if you could double check Knottikay.

Thanks

So no need to make a selection in this race, we will just disregard it.

Placings after the above corrections which I believe were all justified and correct.

Todays entries are on the sheet

Waiting on

jakally
Tightend
Knottikay
Doobs

Jonbon is a non runner if anyone would like to make a change?

I have 3vnon runners will send subs if ok

Sent for 15.30 and 16.50 and 16.10 is cancelled I believe

All received

Will update the sheet shortly, just at the dentist, really should have planned this week better!  ;D

Right

After corrections and Day 2 Race 1 we now have;

After race 2

Ive spotted a error, think I have settled Fact to File at 13/8 instead of 8/13

Good job I am not a bookmaker!

Corrected

After race 3

After all these years Stuart has changed his avatar and I instantly can't remember the old one.

Question on the calculation Stuart. Do you include the stake on the returns? You seem to have for mine. I would have thought that if you include the stake in the returns you should minus all the £10 losses ie. I should have -£70 for the first day! For my 2 returns today without the stake, I should have £82.50 + £6.15 = £88.65. With the stake returned £87.50 + £16.15 = £103.65.

Turny the turnip

No returns for anyone in round 4

I don't think in previous years we have had minuses

I have included the stake in everyone's returns

I don't think it makes a difference as long as it is consistent

Open to opinions

Phew!

Thanks Ralph.

After race 5

There must be some mistake I am still in the running

End of Day 2

Waiting on

Marky147
knottikay
doobs
jakally

Thanks

Out and about this afternoon so updates may be sporadic.

Will get all caught up either this evening or first thing tomorrow.

If anyone wants to ensure updates after each race I can share access to edit the sheet.

Dysart Enos is a non runner, think a couple of people have selected that

i had a few non runners yesterday. are they replaced by sp favourite?

This is something on my list of things to check!

The rules state

If you fail to make a selection or select a non-runner you will be assigned a random horse.

But I have not done this, and cannot possibly administer this before each race.

I will go through the sheet and highlight the none runners and then we can come up with a plan.

I have an idea ........

thats ok then, i had nr in last race and sp favourite was placed wasnt sure if i was on it lol

Right

Highlighted what sporting life has listed as non runners

Booder - JONBON
Typhoon - ZANNABAD & JONBON
Bagel - FIRST STREET & CELTIC DINO
RedSimon - FIRST STREET & JUNTA MARVEL

My suggestion

I will set up the horses in the relevant race on https://wheelofnames.com/
I will spin the wheel and the selected horse will replace the non runner
The WIN or EW selection will remain the same
Luckily I will be with Neil (jakally), Ralph (Karabiner), Matt(Evilpie) from lunch time tomorrow so they can oversee this and ensure it is fair

If anyone doesn't like this feel free to put forward another solution

If there are no objections then I will do this tomorrow and update the scores before the first race tomorrow.

Thanks

the standard way to do this over many years in these competitions is the NR is replaced by SP favourite.

Not sure why you'd be complicating it with a random name generator

Only because the rules as lifted from last year do not state anything about SP favourite, they state random horse.

If everyone is happy with SP favourite I have no issue with this, makes it easier for me, but a little less exciting  :D

I am happy for it to be SP FAV, as per previous years. Can you put up a link for the sheet again to save me searching. BTW, I didnt spot any errors yesterday apart from the one you picked up yourself . Well done.......should have it cracked by Saturday  8)

Hi Alan,


Is this what you need?



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Ap9F6gyaxhh-gXjq7VriRFmv5qTzB1nDe2PMjQnBXc/edit#gid=0

Thanks. Sort of 'busy' at work today, so it has been a bit of a hectic morning.

After Day 3 race 1

Will see if we get any more input on the non runners then sort it out tomorrow morning

SP fav was what I thought it was not bothered either way

NR I am happy with whatever is easiest for you Stuart

That what it used to be iirc

After race 4

I've not been in these comps for a while, but I think the NR/random horse thing is more about the last day, when if someone is well behind they are probably selecting longer priced horses, so a fav isn't really helping them. A random horse at least gives them a chance that the fav wouldn't.

After Day3, with the non runners swapped for the SP favourite

If anyone has time to check the sheet I would be grateful!

Thanks

Just doobs.....

Someone has bought a laptop so I will try to update

Will wait until tomorrow to declare winners and hopefully someone can double check the sheet

1.30 storm heart
2.10 Absurde
2.50 Chigorin
3.30 Bravemansgame
4.10 Premier Magic
4.50 Allegorie De Vassy
5.30 What's Up Darling

All win only


Sorry, really busy this week

Should have taken the whole week off :/

I have no in last 2 races so sent in 2 subs if that's OK

Getting discharged today so likely in transit  and miss the excitement

Can do Iron

After race 3

Hi mate, you havent  included Doobs winner in the 2nd. Leave it off for me ;) Plus 0 for Bagel's PETITE next column along.

Fter race 5

Will check these shortly

Full audit before winner is awarded

Congrats Tikay and Marky.

Disaster girl meme

Think I might be second, as missing 130, but Tikay's strat for the last race is better.  Don't know if anyone else can win, but Tikay and me are out of it.

I havent lost 400+ points today. That table is defo wrong.

I won't win but my number is 200 points light too

Farce     rotflmfao

thanks for running stu.

same time next year mate..

Think you have given me someone else's points, mate.

surely everyone gets a full refund







 ;yippee;

And winners paid from the Bank of Bopkin ;D

I've got some formulated spreadsheets for work, and when you're as clumsy as me, it can be chaos.

I'm always highlighting/clicking the wrong cell, so it transposes the formula and ruins everything :D

the voice of reason...

jokes aside marky, i missed you listing all your year long ante post bets, seem to remember you absolutely cleaning up last year or year before..

how did you get on this time round??

Well I'm not going to argue, but I seem to be about £200 "overpaid".


;)

First time in 10 years I didn't have a single one.

Just too much going on, and haven't had the time to even think about it.

I've had a few good years, but mostly it was just a summer thrift club. I'd invest in Cheltenham and just buy dollars with whatever came back :D

Lost about a hundred quid this year, so not bad for 4 days entertainment.

Choc-ice fund fully loaded ;D

Well done winners

Thanks for running this Stuart

Farce

Excellent work Stu loving your creativity

Think this is the final standing

If someone could take a double check then I will get the winners paid

Thanks for running Mr bopkins. Who do I ship my entry fee, actually made a profit with ew accas on skybet so glad I has able to link my tablet to phone and get the pg lock taken off my phone

That looks correct now. THANKS for running comp. Well played Doobs in 2nd. Unlucky to Tikay in the bubble spot.  rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

Thanks for organising Stuart. Much appreciated.

Well played.  You deserved to win just from getting your tips in on time, but crushed too.

Thanks for organising it Stu, promise to do better with sending off lists of someone runs it again next year.

Please send bank deets guys.

I am quite tempted to just keep the monies and join the Blonde Grimming Hall of Fame

 :D

:D


Well done winners, and unlucky Tikay.

Cheers for running, Stu!

This.

Well done Stu, that was tremendous fun.

Big +1 to that innovation of randomising the results, which, at one stage or another, gave us all a short window of hope before you cruelly changed everything.

Think I had 10 winners or thereabouts including the winner of the first race all 4 days & still failed to cash. Meh. Well done to Alan (knottikay) & David (Doooobs) too. Bastards.

thank you thank you thank you thank you

deposited £20 to put on 4 bets over the week

despite not being able to see my tablet screen properly and having to piggyback my signal from my phone i had a little over £30 in my account
so today at 15:45 bored i decided to put on a £1 Yankee with my profit at last minute i changed it to a 50p EW Yankee)
picked the first 4 horses whose name caught my eye 3 winners and the 4th came one place outside a the places

Mug punterery nearly at its finest

thank you to who ever paid for my entry into this comp, i am assuming by the silence they don't want repaying so i will add and extra £25 to my next charity donation


well done to the winners, thanks Stu for running, looking forward to the masters comp and next years comp.

Money received with thanks today. Did we not have a saver for the bubble boy?   ::)

Monies now sent to Doobs also

My work here is done

Thanks for sending and running the comp.  Will send Tikay's saver of £0.00 later today. 

FFS, everyone's at it now.

Com :D

Congrats Tikay.

**** off fatty.