blonde poker forum

A whopping 190 runners were accommodated at Walsall for the £300 Freezeout - surely a record for Walsall.

And it started on time, & the breaks were kept to schedule - well done to the Walsall Team. 7k starting chips, blinds began at 25-50, 45 minute clock all the way.

I believe First Prize is just over £20,000, & I THINK that 10th to 18th will all get £300, but I'm not 100% on that.

26 return at 3pm Thursday, & heres the overnight counts, in Table & Seat Order. I believe average is around 50k. Blinds are 1,500-3,000 for another 15 minutes.

Table 1

Gorg Collins 31,000

Andy Wilson 61,000

A Lytras 39,500

Y Umari 107,000

Nick Clarke 84,000

Wally Alcci 53,000

Craig Wildman 40,500

G Butler 30,000

Table 2

Ed Giddens 30,000

R Harman 51,500

P. Jackson (NOT Action Jack!)  50,000

G Rees 25,500

I McFarlane 34,500

ActionJack 85,000

J Morgan 47,000

F Audla (?) 31,500

D Phipps 110,000

Table 3

P Jongs 32,000

Matt Cartwright 23,500

D Shearer 22,500

I Shaw-Binns 59,000

Thewy 26,500

tikay 28,500

J Stitcher 70,000

Red-Dog 25,500

A Nunn 105,000

Mini Report

Team blonde were represented by Tighty, Red-Dog, spoony & Tighty. Tighty & sonopy busted early, sonopy claimning a bad beat. Guess he had J-8 or some similar jiunk.

Red-Dog was still there at the end, grimly determined as ever. You have to prise chips off Tom, he really is tenacious. For the 4th time in a row, he & I shared tables pretty much all night.

Other blondes? Too many to mention, remember or even recognize. But I do recall Thewy, Lucy Rokach (a very early faller) Micky Wernick, I Know It, b4Matt, Boodereham, Nick Gibson, the slim-line Rumit, Iwan Jones, ActionJack, Joe Grech, Ash Pervaiz, J P Kelly (out very early), Flushy (though not playing), Action Man, John Hewston, Mel Lofthouse, Hotdog, Ed Giddins, Racing Ronnie, &, well, I'm sorry, but so many more I can't recall at this late hour.

PRO President & Pie-Man Colchester Kev was on the rail, always a welcome if large sight, though frquent "come on Pops" did little to please me.

Thewy was dancing as only he can. At the first break he had his starting stack,( 7k,) at the 2nd break he had 24k, next time I saw him, 5 tables out, he was down to the felt. He moves in on the SB for about 4k with the impressive  Ts 6h & gets called by the shorty BB with 7h 8c, & in true Thewy style, his Ten high was good. Then he does a real Thewy, in the BB with  Qd 2d on a Q high flop, the SB with  the dominating Qs 3c set him in, & he calls, only to end up praying for a split pot, which did look 99% certain on the turn, but a pesky  2h rivered!

A guy called I. Shaw-Binns - nice fella - was down to 900 early, & ended the night with 59k!

Stuart Rutter made THE most astonishing laydown. This guy can play - deep in the Final at Helsinki, & a couple of results since, he held  9c Td on a flop of  9h Th Ts. Turn & river of  Qd Jh & some robust betting saw his pass his flopped House, only to see his oppo show the straight.....WOW!

Tourney Reports in which the author plays are by necessity largely self-centred, but I'm gonna run through my evening in brief, as it was a most un-tikay like evening.I fiddled about early & eased my 7k to 9k easily with the help of a few kind flops. I was in good heart, having (chirp alert) won the $200 entry $6k Guaranteed on Blue Square last night for a handy $2,810.

Then the first of umpteen hands featuring QQ arose. I pick up  Qs Qh & R to 800, mid-position man makes it a RR to 1,500, I RRR to 4k, & he sets me in, & now I've stupidly left myself pot-stranded, so I call & he shows the best I could hope Ahrt Kd - .  Ks Qd 7c on the flop gets me nicely doubled up. to 17k or so.

The VERY next hand I find  Qs Qh again! This one was ugly ugly ugly for my poor oppo, as I kinda like the   9c Td Jh flop & bet out, he calls, I bet the blank turn, he calls, I check the paired  Jd River, he checks too, & turns over  Aspades Qc. What a horrible coup for him, but he hangs in because I did not bet on the end.

Next I catch 2 pairs in the BB against top pair for SB Andy Johnson & bag another 2k.

28k & loving it!

Now Mr Shaw-Binns makes it 1,500 UTG, shorty to his left moves all-in for 6k, & I wake up with - you've guessed it -  Qs Qh.....! I make what turns out to be, by my standards, a good play here, because I don't really have much information on what Shaw-Binns might have, so I just call the 6k. He RR's to 12k, I let go, & he shows..... Aspades Ad. Luckily I had resisted the "R to isolate" plan....but I've done 6k on this hand.

Now, astonishlingly, I find  Qs Qh yet aagin - that's a record, surely, & R it up, I get called by the table calling-station who is deep-stacked, & a guy on 11k, who also calls. Not happy here.....
The flop is a safe-looking  Th 5c 4s, & I bet 10k, deep-stack calls again, & short stack moves in. Me & Mr Deep-Stack check the safe turn, & I bet the safe River, only to find Mr Short-Stack netting the Main Pot with a set of fours, damn, that was a HUGE pot, & I get the consolation of the side-pot to minimise my losses.

Next hand another shorty moves on for 7k, I have  Jh Jd & quickly call, he has, yup, it's that hand again -  Qs Qh....! And what's more, he not only goes on to catch quads, but he NEEDED quads, as I rivered the staight. Another 7k down the pan, oops.

O the Button now, I call a mini-Raise from Andy Johnson - he could have ANYTHING - with  Th 9h, Big Oz Mustanoglu calls too. Andy bets 700 on the   Qh Ts 5h flop, I call, Big Oz shoves his last 3,700 in, Andy passes, & I think I'm marginal favourite unlsss Oz has 2 hearts, so I call, & he shows  Qs 8d, & I miss, & my brief giddy spell with a tall-stack is over, & I;m back in the pack.

It quietens down after that, & I sink into sub-average mediocrity, eventually ending up next to Thewy - to his left - with a red-zone 14k, but I double-up with my  Js Jh  v Aspades Ks.

So, there it is. I fancy either Thewy or me will double-up/bust if we get to play the blinds alone. He's gonna bully me for 100% sure, & I can't sit & let him make a fool of me all afternoon, so I'll take my chances if he does not stay in line. Some chance of HIM behaving......And it's 4/7 Thewy bustd me, & 2/1 I bust him. But you never know, but me & His Blessed-Ness don't do same-village, so it could well turn nasty with 2 very weak holdings.

Great night, & fair play to Walsall - 190 runners - WOW!

I forgot to mention, the Unusual Suspects Heads-Up matches take place Thursday afternoon, the winner out of Burnley John, Flushy & Jen getting a €10,000 seat at Monte Carlo. Very tense!

We are gonna try & bring you a little Live Update - no promises, but I'm confident we can do something, & we may even be able to bring you the climax to the £300.

Goodluck to all the Blondes for the 2nd day :)up

 >:?

(I was sure there was a 'bangs head against wall' smiley somewhere, but this will have to do).

Sheriff
(in broken record mode)

Thanks for the mention boss...........................
And you told me you had 95k!!!!!!!!!
Fascinating night for me, had a table full of rocks to start.....action Jack, rumit, Iwan Jones etc.
I raise 3rd hand on the button to 100 (blinds 25-50) and everyone folds!!!
Anyway, basically had total trash hands all night but the odd exception kept me around average, won races with 10 10 v AK and JJ v AK both times for about a third of my chips and that's about it till i was moved next to Mr Thew, both real shorties and with myself in dire straits i look down and see a black ace, do the obvious and move my 5.5k into the middle and oops get a reraise.
Of course he has AK but the gods are with me and i hit my 2 outer yay!!
A couple of hands later i get another double up with a flush before being moved next to actionjack again (this time he's on my left!), now with a few chips i can manage the odd raise to stay average and even outdrew shortie hitting quad 9's against his 10's :D
Anyway that's the story so far, i have 34.5k just a little over 10 BB's and a bit of time to play some hands so we shall see what happens.
Good luck to RED and his shadow Tikay and of course Julian and Craig, gonna get some kip, night night XXX

Is this a typo Tikay (i.e. did oppo have a straight flush?)

Sheriff

oops, how COULD I forget the one & only ifm.....Sorry Ian! And well played.

Nice report. Good luck today blondes.

No - Not a typo, & no straight flush was out. Stuar thought Matey Boy had JJ or TT. And I did not report this to demean or criticise Stuart who is a quite exceptional talent. He just really thought the guy had the bigger house. I could not pass that hand if my life depended on it.

Good Luck to all Blondes.

I would like to wish Good Luck also to Ian Shaw-Binns, otherwise known as Tips...

Tikay  if you should happen to see him  please pass on my good luck wishes to him.

Bless him



T

xxx

Trace - will do. Nice bloke, funny name though.

Sheriff - see "interesting hand tonight" thread......

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE BLONDIES!!

Ian Shaw-Binns, doesn't he sound upper class like that lolol. As Trace says, it's Tips, and another MMM to boot!

Good Luck all Blondites, and Tips!!

Good luck today Tikay , and to all blondes left in  :)up :)up

Also good luck to Jen and James , i have no preferences and wish you both well  :)up :)up

Good luck Tips too !!!! ........... Up the MMM  :)up :)up

Oh, and Tikay, I was trying everything toget down there for todays HU matches, but my "day babysitter" went away at the last minute, I'm quite gutted I'm not going to be there to cheer James on, so any updates would be very much appreciated, and can you pass on the usual good luck smootch/hug for me too lol, Pleeeease x x x x 

Jane - talking of MMM - what has happened to the site?

I keep getting a message saying it has been disabled.  I like looking at the pics of Jacko on that kiddies bike, cracked me up.  lol

Is James playing the £500 tonight Jane ???

EEEEK!! TBH Trace I don't know, I've been so busy with Uni the last month that I haven't been working on it at all, so not been to the main site as I've had nothing to update. I'll look into it later to see what's going on.

If it's the £500 tonight then yes he is, for some reason I keep thinking it's tomorrow lol

Jane - If I was nearer I'd have your kids for you.

yup me to Jane , looks like i havent a babysitter from now on so i could of done it for you

We need a blonde network of babysitters  ;D

I've got a spare kid if you ladies are taking extras?

I'm pretty sure the sign on the slip road at Junction6 (spaghetti) said it is closed today (the slip road that is), so anyone joining the M6 there be careful, i'm heading up to Junction 4 to get on.

Just about to leave to get some food!!

good luck today ian, i will probably be up therew about 7.30pm tonight will you still be there then?

Best of luck today guys !

50p on stand-by. I need to get this one out of my system.

I doubled up early on. T9 against Greek Jack's AK. K-7-8 flop. I reraised him, he flatcalled. 9 on turn. He bet small. I had pot odds to call. Knew he was strong by now, so didn't raise again. Hit J on river. For some reason he bet, I reraised, he called. That put me up to about 13k. Starting chips 7k. So going great guns.

Later on, still got around 13k. Perhaps chip leader on the table. I have 8-7. Mateyboy raises, rock calls, I call, Joe Grech calls. Flop comes 8-8-3. OR checks, Mateyboy bets 1k (about the pot). I flatcall, pretty sure that he has something like T-T. Grech and OR fold.

Turn is blank (4, I think). He overbets all-in for about 5k. Massive bet. I think about it for a bit. Pretty sure he wouldn't bet a boat on the flop. He was too tight to flatcall a raise with A-8 too.

I call, leaving myself with about 6k. He turns over Q-Q.

Grech says he folded a queen. Great.

River = Q

Hmm.

I pulled myself back up to 11k after knocking Grech out A-A v A-K, then A-Q v 9-9.

Then moved to a tricky table. Sandwiched between bling bling and Micky W. Couldn't get going. Didn't find any hands. Eventually moved with J-T of spades. Called by A-Q of spades. Board gave me a jack on the turn, but a flush on the river.

OUT.

Gutted about the bad beat as that would have put me on around 20k and  Iwould have been flying high. Ah well.

I played well though, so not too miffed. Still got the 500 tonight.

More importantly, well done to Tighty earlier this week and good luck to all the blondeites still left in.

what time you going tonight snoops.?
what time do the heads up matches start?

gl all
gl tonight
I wish i had more money and no work tomorrow!
£20 Freezeout in ware will have to do for me tonight.

Go for it boys  :)up :respect:

Is it an 8.30pm or 8.00pm kick off for the 500?

I don't want to drive in that crap on the M6 during rush hour.

8.30 start but you must be registered for 8

I would if at all possible aim to be there pre-rush hour

that aside, great to see so many blondes on the second day of the three hundred

after my fluke on Monday and easypickings/Mr Cool yesterday would be great to see a Blonde scoop this

Thanks Tightend.  I'm already registered.  8.30 means I can avoid rush hour :)

So many players going who are on form.  What a tough festival.

It's a very tough festival, huge numbers of runners, everyone can play, big cash action as well

One thing I did notice, number of rocks down and number of lairy/get chips early up.

Heaven! (says he back home to have the kids for the weekend!!)

Will there be any live update for the heads up and the £500 tonight ?

Not the £500, snoopy, jen and tikay all playing

Expecting news of the HU via Mr Raab's lappie later this afternoon

Well that's inconsiderate of them, who gave them permission to play!! ;)

turkey baster moment??

According to the beagle's texting machine

Yoyo, tikay and edyg still in the comp

Text from paul , james walking all over john at the heads up

Updates

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=7429.0

If you get any more info charmaine

Good luck all the blond's who are playing today.  

I shall be back again tomorrow i finaly got a night off  ;cheerleader;  I will keep up with the comps tonight here keep an eye on A Nunn a youg lad at uni looks like he could be one to watch for the future.

See you all soon  ;goodluck;

Ok Robert  :)

Comp now down to 2 tables

Craig, tikay, edyg and Julian still in

do you know the players who have been knocked out please robert?

Sorry, I am just relying on some texts from snoops and he seems to be concentrating on the Heads Up Comp. hopefully, when thats over, we can get a chip count

rotflmfao

yer a sad man

ifm that was me you hit with quad nines on the all in pre flop against my tens.

wont forget that one mate..will make sure i repay the favour sometime :)

julian 7th
tikay 6th

Is that current? Or where they finished?

 ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; either way.

where they finished

they finished too late to play the £500

Well done Julian and Tikay ,,, two top blokes  ;applause; ;karabiner; ;applause; ;karabiner; ;applause; ;karabiner; ;applause; ;karabiner;

I had the pleasure of spending most of this tournament at the same table as Tikay (what a funny name;) and have to say what a great guy to have at your table (and not coz he`s a fish).  Well Done on yer FT place.

p.s Thanks for yer good luck messages ladies. 

alas, another 10% goes down the drain welcome to blonde tips
                                                                                    rick

Welcome (((TIPSY)))  xoxoxoxoxoxoxox   MWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


lmao

welcome, and well done  to    tips. ;goodvevil;

enjoy.

Hi there Tips , good to see you found us all  :)

Tikay, it was an honour playing with you last night and I know it looked like I stole a lot of your blinds but I just got all my hands UTG. vwp and you were very unlucky to go out with the jacks.

So whats happening with the heads up ???

Good post Charmaine.

I had a table tennis match last night so couldn't follow the progress (a glorious win of 34 points), I get to work this morning and ....

Nothing !!!! lol

I KNOW!!!  It's almost like they stay up all night and don't realise that 9-12 exists in the morning.

M3's in Walsall and his updating was pretty crap to say the least , then he didnt text from 12.30am !!! so no idea if they played or if they're finishing it off today .

Is that the real Tips?

Superstar VC Cup player Tips?

Where ya been??!!

"M3's in Walsall and his updating was pretty crap to say the least , then he didnt text from 12.30am !!! so no idea if they played or if they're finishing it off today"

To be fair updatings not easy (especially after a few pints) but it's been hours now and I WANNA KNOW WHO WON.  I think toys will be thrown from pram!!!! 

Jamie ??? do you know whats going on ???

OK Jamie, come on m8 what r u after?

Just a little update of my return on day 2 and a couple of questions.
Got back to walsall just in time to catch Tikay at the bar, he duly paid for my breakfast, cheers boss!
So a good start!!

I had returned with 34.5k and with the blinds 1500-3000 i wasn't in any immediate danger but i had decided to be a lot more aggressive than the previous day.
I was a bit phased on day 1 by all the big time players around me and i guess i saw demons in their play that weren't necessarily there, i have played a few of these fessie events and actually faired quite well overall despite not beating my final table in my first ever event over £20 (£500 DC freeze 12 months or so ago).

Anyway immediately it was apparent that the 2 shorties were "going for it". Also Paul Jackson, P. Jackson and the chippy were going to continue their aggression too, great!
I have never been on such an aggressive table, ever!! I actually can't remember a hand unraised preflop, quite awe inspiring actually.
Anyhow i managed to lose about 15k a couple of hands in calling a raise with JQ and hitting 2 pairs on an all club flop, i check, he checks and another club on the turn sees another couple of checks, his 6k bet on the river was all i was ever gonna pay to see his ace of clubs, but i have no complaints. Maybe i should have bet the flop but i think he was almost certainly going allin with his Ace of clubs and short stack.

Anyway a few hands later a very odd hand happened where i almost doubled up without seeing a flop!!
Chippy raises (again) to 6k and another player flat calls, i have AK and push and am relieved to see the chippy fold, the flat caller then dwells for a good few minutes before eventually folding 64 of clubs face up!!
I was a bit surprised to say the least........

I then get KQ diamonds and decide it's my turn to steal the blinds, i raise to 13k and the chippy calls, flop comes 10h Js 7s, with about 23k left i think i now have 2 chances to win the pot (forcing a fold or hitting my probable 10 or so outs) and push, an immediate call sees his A9s killing 4 of my outs and the inevitable spade on the river killing my tourny (it was the king too!!).
No regrets on the hand at all, i pushed expecting to be behind and with my chips and position etc. i'd do exactly the same next time.
I am pleased with the comp and finishing about 23rd from 187 considering i never had aces, had kings once (won 75) JJ twice and 1010 once and had AK once only. Possibly the worst comp hand wise i have ever had.

All in all a good day and a bit and it was fun in the comp, nice to see a few of the forum lot and to meet Greg and Julian for the first time.

Couple of questions though:-
How do you combat an aggressive table? (especially with rubbish cards), one chap seemed to like to reraise preflop a lot forcing folds, he did have plenty of chips though, a definite factor not open to me.

How do you make yourself more aggressive? I was watching Julian and he seemed to raise twice a round every round, i don't know if this was a strategy or just cards but i decided to raise the very next hand he did blind with a bit of success, picked up the blinds a couple of times.
This was a deliberate effort to play aggressively and i find if i do it blind i have the bottle necessary :D

What range of hands would you raise preflop on an aggressive table? Connecting cards or even suited or 2 face cards are my range though i didn't even get those.

ifm says.....

"....How do you make yourself more aggressive? I was watching Julian and he seemed to raise twice a round every round, i don't know if this was a strategy or just cards but i decided to raise the very next hand he did blind with a bit of success, picked up the blinds a couple of times.
This was a deliberate effort to play aggressively and i find if i do it blind i have the bottle necessary

What range of hands would you raise preflop on an aggressive table? Connecting cards or even suited or 2 face cards are my range though i didn't even get those...."

I think you are looking at this the wrong way Ian.

When Julian - or others of the same ilk - R twice a round, they do so IRRESPECTIVE of what cards they are holding. The cards are NOT relevant, not AT ALL. They sense a passive/weak table, or they have a bullying stack, & they look for SITUATIONS rather than hands, the ability to pinch the blinds or knock someone off a hand by sheer aggression. But the important thing is, thery do NOT look for a range of hands - it could be, literally, any 2 cards - they just spot situations where they think they can outplay someone. Stu Fox, & At-It Bradley employ the same style. It must be a wonderful talent to possess, but you need some sort of stack to do it, & a lot of backbone. As I tend to operate with a small stack, & ain't the bravest of players, it's something I will never be able to do, but each to their own, & the occasional "RR with any hand" works a treat against these guys if you have a rock image like myself.

I am glad you met Julian - he really is an awesome player, extemely likeable, and a perfect gent at the table. It's always fun to have him at the table.

A belated & brief resume of what happened on Day Two of the £300.

Red-Dog & myself were both hanging in grimly on a very aggrrssive table, but we both found just enough "situations" to pay the rent.

Red then found KK & was aghast to get no action, but be careful what you wish for is the saying, & he found KK again three hands later, & he sure got action this time - I had AA! Knocking out a bud gives me mixed feelings - I wanted Tom to go all the way, but there are huge bragging rights to busting a mate, too. At least he did nothing wrong.

Then on a 5 handed table, I Know It made a perfectly reasonable all-in lunge with A-8, only to find yours truly holding AA again!

The Final was an odd affair, a sort of atmo existed at the table, as 2 players kept haranguing evryone to do a deal. I kept ouit of it, for some reason I felt confident, & was having a ball, & I wanted to play on.

To my right was a wonderfully mannered Asian Gentleman, Mr Youmji I believe, & he soon had a big chip lead. He was being pestered again & again to do a deal, & was being offered an insulting sum, so eventually he juat said "I want x", & then he got lambasted for quoting a silly figure. So I interjected "look, the guy does not wanna do a deal at this stage, so he's just telling you "no", he has every right so to do", but they really were pressurising him. Why is it that after a wonderful comp played in a great spirit by everyone, that some folks get so uppity & aggrerssive when it comes to deal-making? Players are ENTITLED to say no, & they should not be expected to receive abuse just because they don't wanna deal. These guys can maybe walk all over me at Poker, no argument there, but when it comes to negotiating skills, they truly suck. I can't begin to imagine how they'd get in in real world negotiations. Well, I can.......

Anyway, Thewy got busted - he got aggressive, & we were all shocked to see he actually had a proper hand - AK - but it plays pretty bad against AA.

My demise was an odd one. A nice chap - Glyn I think - had about 100k, & went for a routine late position steal with A-7, & I with 160k moved in on him with JJ. He thinks & thinks, openly saying "I think I'm pot-stuck here" before eventually calling. Whilst I was steeling myself for the almost inevitable A, I was mightily relieved to see no Ace - but he 4-flushed it!

Down to 60k & blinds at 6k-12k, the BB on me next hand, I tried to do a Thewy & moved in with Q-7 suited, only to find Billy Big Stack with A-Q, & despite 2 diamonds on the flop, I improved no further, & exited with £2,300 in 6th. I had not even had time to shake Glyn's hand & leave my seat before Mr Aggressive says "good, we can try & do the deal again now"..... Subtle stuff.

A truly wonderful comp, I enjoyed every minute. Gotta love this Tourney Poker.

I believe Glyn busted next, & then it was chopped, they all took around £10k, plus or minus a few grand.

A big up to Walsall for a great comp - 190 runners! - but it is a pity that the prize structure was so ridiculously top-heavy.

tikay

I keep hearing you say that you're not as good as some players.

Well, I disagree.

I see no reason why you can't mix it with the best.

This result shows that you're capable.

Now, you just need an injection of confidence heading into the Main Event.

There's no reason why you can't win it ffs.

Indeed he is, even greater/worse a pass it being on the turn with a board of  9h Th Ts J(dunno suit), couple of reraises and a massive all in from the other guy - this guy cant really believe his straight is good right? Awesome lay down, wrong time Stu mate - save folding houses for your home game, not when I got a stake in ya. Ah well if your reading this Stu great work in the 200, was all a good laugh. Ya guys have a good one in Europe if I dont speak to you first