blonde poker forum

Entry 1:  DTD WSOP Road Trip

Well, its been 5 years since my first WSOP diary, I read it last week after a guy at the club mentioned it to me, it reminded me of what my life was like back then, travelling the world playing poker for 3 years with little stress in my life, there was no damn recession, no DTD, no football club........don't ask me what I would do if I could rewind the clock :dontask:

Anyway, it's back to the WSOP for me this year, my flights are booked but this trip is going to be different, this time I am hoping to take 15 - 20 DTD qualifliers with me - we have pre booked 20 rooms at the MGM from my friend Oliver Spier -who promises us all VIP treatment. Oliver is the Casino Host that usually looks after us at the Bellagio, he came over to the EPO at DTD in September and twisted our arm to change venues and promissed extra special treatment at the MGM, so we'll give it a go. The Bellagio and MGM are owned by the same company, but apparently there is a big push to promote the MGM at the moment since they built a new hotel block called Skylofts in their complex.

We also have a DTD Party planned in one of the nightclubs in Vegas, we are joining forces with Smart Gambler, owned my my Nowegian friend, Segal, the guy that originally helped bring the Norwegain Chamionships to DTD. By the way, I went to the Norwegian Chamionships in Latvia last week, the organisers moved it there this year which was a major disappointment to us, but we could not compete with the deal that the Riga Casino offered Donke, the championship sponsor, however, you never know, we might get it back in 2011 :-X

The slight problem is I'm not exactly sure how we are going to qualify 15-20 players from DTD yet, with flights, hotels and buy-ins we need to raise between $200,000 - $260,000 by way of some type of satelitte structure, live and online, but we have plenty of time to work that out. I remember when I did my last diary, the Gutshot took a team of 10 players over to the WSOP and had a great time filming them, one young Gutshot lady, Tiffany Williamson, finished 15th if I remember, how cool would that be if one of the locals like Ali 'Bag Of Bollocks' went really deep - you never know, strange things happen in life.

Anyway, my WSOP Diary and Dusk Till Dawn blog threads kept a few of you amused so hopefully I can make this third 'blog' interesting, and it's about time I did a follow up since the club opened, and go into how it feels after being open for over 2 years. There is plenty of stuff to tell you all, I don't know where to start, but we have 90 days till I fly to Vegas so that's ample time to re visit the DTD story and all the other crap that's been going on since then. This blog will be condemned to the Blondepoker archives when the last DTD qualifier is knocked out of the 2010 WSOP. Again, as with the previous blogs, feel free to add anything on the thread yourselves - but can I just ask you not to post compaints about ecash and the weekly tourney schedule on here please  :redcard:

Hey you never know -  maybe if I try really really hard I might get as many hits as that great blogger and DTD's no.1 fan Mick McCool ;djinn;

Cheers Rob

can't wait to read this.

First night $40k Blackjack bink?

Should be an awesome read.

Here's hoping I can get over with DTD - would be a much better trip to Vegas for me if i did :)

BoB?

Just making sure I get on page one of this, should be fun.

I swear that OP has change virtually 50% since I read it first

such epic thread-a-ments

getting on this trip is now my target from now till then!

Need a cameraman?

You're a natural writer Rob.

Does it come easy, like one take and that's it, or do you mess about with it after you've written it?

Which ever way, I'm looking forward to it.

I 'spect I'll be tryin to get me one of them vegas seats too. GL Me!!!


PS- The title could have been a bit more creative. Something like

Rob Yong's WSOP Diary 2 - Return of the Degenerate

Rob Yong's WSOP Diary 2 - This Time it's Personal

think i might try a win a seat now ironside and rob yong loose in vegas doesnt seem too bad

Will probably have a go at qualifying as well, gl with whoever qualifies though Rob.

Oh, and in on page 1 of epic thread.

can't wait to follow this...

shoulda be quality, gl w the sats and cover your asses.........

Wow.

Cant wait to hear the plans for the DTD qualifiers!

Wiiiiiii.... this thread should be good!

I didn't know Rob till I started playing him at the club and then read his blogs afterwards, they were both fantastic reads.

Really looking forward to this one.

A big DTD group sounds good as well! Whether I qualify or not, I'm sure the we'll all have a sick time out there.

First one of these was abs amazing. Lookin forward to it.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii should be a great read!

My personal mission is now to get on this trip.

Red Dog, your gonna have to actually come into the club again at some point to win a seat! Were all missing you!  :'(

Tried hard to read the first one, but just so many pages hard to keep up. Will def keep in touch with this one, don't know you personally but agree you seem a natural writer and obv got lots of stories to tell. GL.

mev an incred balla in Vegas, should be good.

incred pre nip

He's back!

;popcorn;

Looking forward to this.

Rob

In terms of funding the seats - why dont you try and hold a few "Double Shoot Outs" at DTD

£100 +10 buy in - 10 tables of 10 - playing a SNG format down to 1 winner at each table who move to a final table of 10 (im sure you know the format).

Ok you are only generating 10k - but knowing your generoisty - you have frequently overlaid events - but a 10k payday would go a fair way to paying for someone.

These can be held during your "event weekends" and you could easily get to 100 runners later on the saturday when people are going busto from the main game. The ave live SNG time should be no more than 1.5 hours - therefore (including flex) - you should have a winner within 4 hours. You could even turbo the first part and then standard clock the final table?

Given that you are talking about trying to generate 15-20 seats in circa 10 weeks -  i think this could be one option. I would happily take a few shots at something like this. I guess the main problem is that you would have to offer 1 package with no HU chop available (unless top 2 want to strike a private arrangement for payment).

Just a thought - good luck wiht this thou

DTD only have 9 player tables.

But 11 x 9 handed tables is a good idea.  Could even host on a 300 evening if organised in advance and could cancel if not got the runners.  Although I would say make it £200 and give 2 seats if sold out.

minor problem with that thou?!?!!!? - you could squeeze 10 surely? tables arent going to be 10 handed for long in a SNG

Also I think people would snap play for 100, whereas people would think about it for 200 - i think to fill 100 runners you need the buyin to be low enough

I dont know whether the DTD software allows but you could obv do it on-line too

Even have preliminary shoot-out rounds online for £10/£20 a time - winners get a ticket into a live shootout first-round proper.  Like the FA Cup, sort of.  That would attract the less balla, and I'm sure increase the interest?

Rob, I suggest you take legal advice before you schedule any live sats for the WSOP, because as far as I am aware it is illegal due to the USA not being a white listed territory. We would have liked to run them at Grosvenor, but cannot because of this.

Thats a great idea - just have 1 or 2 tables continually playing sattys all day for £10 or £20 -  you would generate loads of runners. You could even do 1 handed sattys for this amount - where Trumper does his 4 hole cards - turning 1  card per street single handed sattys.

boooooooooooooooooo!  ;)

No doubt very valid input Jon

but surely you could dress this up as a £15k VIP vegas pasckage with $10k worth of poker buyins to be chosen by operator? It just so happens they buy you into the WSOP main?

Rob

Whatever you decide to do, it will generate an enormous amount of interest, you can sense the excitement in the punters allready.

Having it at the same time as a 300 if possible would be incred.

I like the idea on online SNG steps, e.g.

Step 1) $1.50 10 Man SNG wins seat at step 2
Step 2) $15 10 Man SNG wins seat at step 3
Step 3) $150 10 Man SNG wins seat at step 4
Step 4) $1,500 10 Man SNG wins $15,000 vegas package

Players can buy in at any Step.

Surely these could run permamently on DTD online until sufficient seats won.

just reading Robs Diary of WSOP 2005 - and I quote

"Poker is going to be massive in the UK in 3 years time, without a doubt"

Rob's 1st WSOP diary was a quality read. This one's going to be immense!

Now I just have to make sure I get in the DTD crew... ....Then bink the Main Event...

Nah Jon is bangon we had this same problem in the Rendezvous as its owned my Harrah's we had some WSOP promos and sats, in the end they realised the massive cockup and paid out $10k cash prizes.

So if the prize is say $15,000, the only problem is advertising that the prize is only for the WSOP ME and forcing the winner to enter the ME with the winnings? 

That would be simple enough for Rob.  Anyone who wins the prize and doesn't use it to go to the WSOP with Rob and the others doesn't get into DTD again...

Yeah thats sounds like a good position for a business to take. I guess the way to do it would be make it a 'holiday' so most of the package is prepaid flights and the hotel room, then give them 10k cash when they get there but again nothing saying people have to play the WSOP ME.

At least that wasn't what I suggested

You can't call it $10k of poker buyins, it can't be a buyin to a game in the USA/

I'm not saying that's how it's advertised, obviously.  I'm suggesting that the prize is an all-expenses paid trip to Vegas in July.  I also agree that a winner of the package can't be compelled (contractually) to enter the WSOP.

Oh right, wow! There must be some clever way of wording it

"10k of spending money"

I guess you are then in the realms of trust

Sigh

how about a sponsorship package?

win a chance to become dtd sponsored pro for 2 weeks during the wsop

Pretty much what Sky are doing innit

hi rob, just wonder if the guy u mentioned in the club was meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

goog luck 2 whatever u do anyway.

will alway support u my chinese mate. 8h 8h 8h

pls make chinese frankie an honorary member of the wsop team.

FRANKIE IS KING!






IS IT

go on frankieeeee

+100000 star there

As always, look to Pokerstars for the answer.  WSOP is the only tourny that they won't buy you in for ~ no need to take legal advice, they have already done it for you :)

Stars get around it by handing out the cash into players accounts and offering an inducement to take the seat by adding a little on top with a hotel/merchandising package for all those that choose to play.

Perhaps a twist on this would be to "offer" to take care of the currency problems for people and give them a choice of an online credit (so that people genuinely do have an option) or physical $$ for players in person at a mini-ceremony that happened to be hosted in a LV bar somewhere.

There is always a temptation for the budget-conscious to trouser the win and not go.  But for those that get there and are handed the $$$, well there's not much point in doing anything other than playing a few WSOP events (or the M.E.) with it is there?

Instead of the prize being $15k including buy in for ME make it $10k with $5k worth of Vegas trip if you choose to use the $10k to buy in to the ME.

£100 shootout juice free on that basis?  Assuming £1=$1.50 for this, a 100 player shootout is the $15k covered.  If half of all winners (for the sake of easy argument) chooses to take the $10k instead, then you insta-make $2.5k in juice on average.  The other half of the the winners takes the seat +$5k vegas trip/hospitality etc and you have a DTD shirt on them as well as a happy customer.

Wow Looking forward to this read and having a shot for the WSOP.

Amazing prize on offer and I am sure Rob will sort out how best to do this.

LOL - Im pretty sure DTD/Rob will be dipping into their own pockets for this one - can see them raising $250k in tourney buy ins alone - give them a break!

Provided that Rob and the club are not out of pocket, i.e. buyin and juice cover the $15,000 package and the costs of running the comps, does it matter if the players just go to Vegas, have a good time and play a little poker and ditch the ME in favour of $10,000 in their pocket.

Personally if I have the choice of Vegas trip & $10,000!!!!!! in my pocket vs Vegas Trip & ME entry I know which one I am taking.

Obv it's Rob's club (and his thread for that matter) and I'm sure he will come up with a great solution if he decides to proceed.

As for people banking the money instead, I can't quite get my head around it.  The thought process seems to go like this:

1. Can't afford to buy in to the M.E. so I'm gonna take me a shot at a super sat / double-shootout etc.  That way I can play the M.E. on the cheap.
2.  Did I win the satellite? Wow!  That's a lot of money, I'd rather take it in cash thanks.
3. I hope I get a chance to play the M.E. next year....

If it was my club/site etc then I would certainly place a value on having a team of players all taking their respective shots (with my shirt on) into the tournament which the original satellite was designed to place them.

I think it's more realistically that people decide they can't possibly justify spending some/several (depending on how good their job is) months wages on one tournament  and they never intended to play the ME

If the whole of the expenses (including the $10k nominal entry fee) was paid in cash when you got there then people would 'have' to take the holiday, and I think having the cash in your pocket would certainly encourage them to spend it while they were there. Even if they didn't play the ME event with it I would imagine it would gain DtD some exposure in the WSOP cheaper events they might be more likely to enter.

Yeah but this is the mystery!  If it's several months wages and beyond sensible to play, fine, but why try and qualify?

$10k in the pocket, that's what I meant - that's the plan all along

Because you don't HAVE to play the ME and most people who aren't balla and have a choice between 10k in there pocket or play the ME will always choose the cash.It is interesting though because I would like to play the ME one day but if it wasn't seen as bad form by Rob me going over and playing something else with a dtd top on that's what I'd rather do,so when will I ever play the ME  ;carlocitrone;

I was thinking for my next big trip I'd like to play the Aussie Millions and noticed stars make you play it if you bink a sat,I was glad that was the case so I don't have the option.

Looking forward to seeing what Rob comes up with for this,looks like there'll be a ton of interest.

dtd dont allow people in usa on there software so should be able to buy people in like laddies did

DTD is a casino

New Blog Entry (2): “DTD For Sale - True of False?”

The format of this blog is going to slightly different to ‘a diary’; Each entry will discuss a random DTD subject in the build up to DTD’s WSOP Road Trip. Let's start by answering the question/rumour that I get asked at least once a week by a different person – “is DTD going bust/being sold?”

The truth is that I did consider selling DTD when the new ‘poker tax’ was made UK law in 2009. I was feeling pretty beat up at the time; we had just had the £80,000 of overlays for our Grand Slam comp, some more bad news on VAT and a 300% increase in our business rates. It was looking like the mountain was now way too steep and it was time to finally throw the towel in, plus, I was feeling quite sorry for myself, like a poker player bemoaning bad beat after bad beat :'(.

I met with 4 companies who had approached us within a month of the ‘poker tax’ news breaking, 3 of them made offers but the 4th wanted to do more of a joint venture deal, I couldn't imagine this ever working - I didn't fancy getting a bollocking by a 'business partner' after the next inevitable big DTD overlay. The sort of offers I got were nothing to get excited about, basically I could recoup most of the investment in DTD back, which now stood well over the £5m mark, including the set-up costs, the court delays, plus the club’s operating losses for 2008 and 2009.

I had got my mind around selling DTD, I was tired, but still, in my heart of hearts, I didn’t want to accept failure, even if that was the correct business decision. I asked Nick what he wanted to do and he replied very simply, “what else are we gonna do if we don’t do this?” That was all the encouragement I needed, Nick still had some faith, and my business brain ‘rebooted’. I told him that we needed to face the reality of being a poker club that was shackled with the costs and taxes of being licensed as a full casino, so we would have to operate a more professional business model going forward, we highlighted three areas that we needed to focus on ASAP; increase our online revenue, introduce some gaming into the club and increase our opening hours to generate more revenue.

I really didn’t want table games in the club, so we agreed to put in some electronic gaming, create extra weekend events and recruit some professional online expertise.  The downside was more up front cash investment, and I was reminded of the saying ‘throwing good money after bad’, but being an expert at doing this, it didn't concern me that much;  we needed to deposit of £150,000 with the gambling commission for the electronic gaming, spend £100,000 fixtures/fittings etc in the club, and bring in an experienced person to recruit a back office team for www.dtdonlinepoker. We managed to put all of these things in place by the end of 2009, so we were all feeling really optimistic, motivated and pumped up about 2010, and just when we thought nothing else could go wrong, the ‘poker gods’ sent the worst recorded weather to Nottingham in 113 years…………and we were back ‘in the hole’ in January with overlays and low attendances!

I guess nothing else bad can happen……"DTD - not for sale/going bust (at the moment ;))"

Cheers Rob

Next Blog Entry (3): “Mick Mccool, DTD’s No.1 Fan”

Very honest blog entry! Looking fwd to next installment....  ;popcorn;

Awesome

;popcorn; ;applause;

Great stuff Rob.

The next entry looks like a belter already.

(http://www.forumammo.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10062/popcornic3ba6.gif) (http://www.forumammo.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10062/popcornic3ba6.gif)

Dont keep us in suspense to long Rob.

This will be THE thread of 2010.  ;karabiner;

+1 :)up

Enjoying the blog but particularly interested in this one hehe

 ;popcorn;

I take it Micks still barred?

whats he done?

wait for the next installment! Will be an intresting read no doubt!!

New Blog Entry (3): ““Mick McCool, DTD’s No.1 Fan”

Everyone has there critics, they often can help make life more interesting and make you question yourself and ensure that you continue to maintain and improve your standards, and DTD’s no.1 Critic is without doubt the infamous, Mick McCool.

I dont read it myself, but have been sent various links to Mick McCool's blog, also a link to a radio show, and numerous private messages/emails that he has sent to people, slagging off DTD. Despite the malicious intent of his wholly inaccurate and unfounded comments, I have never responded or even felt the need to, his opinions are very much in the minority judging by the growth in DTD customers over the last 2 years, and I am sure the 500 people that have come through the doors of DTD today, on a Sunday, cannot all be wrong, but clearly he has an axe to grind rather than being an impartial critic whose opinions are without obvious personal bias.

However, since his last outburst was not very complimentary to BP as well as DTD, I see no harm in stating the facts on here, which are the absolute truth, regarding DTD and Mick McCool, then people can draw there own conclusions, below is the opening paragraph from his latest outburst from his blog.

Blondepoker and Dusk Till Dawn
Now unless you live in a cave in the Shetland Islands you will know l hate the both of these fuckin things and everything they stand for more than anything in Poker. People come on the blog and on Blonde shortly after my attacks saying various nice things like, l’m attention seeking, a useless wanker, a fat kunt, billy no mates and all sorts of other bullshit. I couldn’t really give a monkeys what these fuckers say as it has no effect on my life and how l live so ying yang mother fuckers. Before l talk about my main subject, l was speaking to a lot of Norwegian's in Prague at the cash tables and they were telling me that their Championship of Poker was being held in Riga this year, main reason was prices at DTD were extortion and the other was location which didn’t surprise me really. I really like the Norwegians and have made plenty of friends there over the past 3 years so will be sad to not see them over here again even though it was making DTD money.

The Facts

Fact 1: I first met Mick McCool on the UK Grosvenor circuit and got on pretty well with him, okay, he was a bit outspoken at the table and rubbed a few of the ‘established uk players’ up the wrong way, but I personally thought that he was more of a breath of fresh air than what the general consensus was, plus the UK poker circuit was quite ‘clicky’ at the time, and he wasn’t scared to play anyone and give them the rubdown, I sort of liked that.

Fact 2: The first problem I encountered with him was when he publicly accused DTD of putting ‘in house’ DTD players into the $25,000 online freeroll for the launch of the DTD online room, to try and win the ‘free money’ back for DTD. With respect, after investing £5m, why would we do this? This was a blatant lie, and I could not understand why anyone would say such a thing or really believe that we would do this, especially someone that knew me personally.

Fact 3: When the DTD club finally opened, Mick was a regular, his brash style and direct banter did upset a few of the customers and some of our staff, especially some of the dealers in the cash games. Simon Trumper and Darren Whiten had a some quiet words with him on a few occasions, often it was ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other’, and since Mick knew me quite well, I was sure these problems would blow over and he would realise that you just can't behave like that to people.

Fact 4: Mick’s behaviour did improve, the staff and players got to know him a bit better and realised that was ‘just his way’ and he meant know harm with what he said, he was 99% of the time just having a bit of a laugh and to be honest, he made the games more lively and fun a lot of the time. DTD is full of 'charactors' and sometimes our staff need to adjust and take this into account, Mick was one of these people and his heart was in the 'right place'.

Fact 5: Unfortunately, I got a phone call one evening to say there had been a problem in the club between Mick and another customer over a financial disagreement, whist that was nothing of DTD’s or my business, the situation has escalated to the point where the police were called and threats had been made, I was not there, but was told by my management that it had all got a bit messy in front of the customers in the club, which did not look good for DTD, and my management thought is best that Mick was at least barred for certain time. I said I would talk to him and get to the bottom of it, as I was sure there must have been some sort of misunderstanding and reasonable explanation.

Fact 6:  Before I got the chance to speak to Mick, I was emailed the latest entry on Mick’s blog, where he was very disrespectful towards DTD, at that time, we were in the process of negotiating with the WPT for the UK Leg and I was very unhappy that someone who knew me personally would write such damning comments on the internet for everyone to see. I was furious that Mick would do such a thing, so I called him and told him exactly what I thought of him in no uncertain words, I made it clear that he would never be allowed in DTD while I owned it.

Fact 7: Mick’s ‘anti DTD’ blog entries have continued ever since that day, I would describe them as distasteful even If I was neutral, this has offended some of the Blondepoker members, due to the close link with DTD and BP. Mick even went on a poker radio show and had a real go at DTD to Jesse May, although to be fair, Jesse did seems to encourage him/fan the flames - I guess to make more interesting radio.

Fact 8:  The situation is quite sad and I actually feel quite sorry for Mick, he is local to DTD and it’s a shame that he has put himself in this position. Despite his personal crusade against DTD,  he has been consistently trying to get his ban lifted which makes no sense? After getting a ‘no’ from Darren, the General Manager, Mick even contacted Nick personally to ask to be let back into the club, this was only a couple of months ago. Nick spoke to me and I said ‘no’, and my decision has been proved to correct when you see what Mick has written on his blog since.

Fact 9: Mick is clearly not the person he makes out to be,  ‘I say what I think’, ‘take me or leave me’, ‘ I don’t give a xxxx what people think’, is all just front, if he really  ‘lived by his principles’ he surely would want to play poker anywhere else but DTD! Instead, it makes me cringe when I know he has been desperate to be allowed back into the club, a place he so publicly chastises. To be honest, I find it astonishing that he dare ask us to lift his ban, I would have thought he would feel humiliated to do so, especially when you read his latest comments on how he 'hates us'.

Fact 10:  Mick should start by deleting everything that is derogatory in his blog, not just the DTD stuff, unless it is backed upsolid facts, he had made disrespectful comments about various people/organisations in poker, that simply leave a bad taste and give a bad impression of him as a person. If he does this, I will consider meeting with him and reviewing the situation with him being barred from DTD, I know he’s not a bad bloke underneath, but he should stop embarrassing himself with what he writes about third parties in his blog, maybe is would be a good idea to focus his very good blogging skills more on poker, rather than fuelling silly vendettas that don’t actually exist in reality.

Life is too short, Mick, stop being such a plonker, you know it makes sense :P

Cheers Rob

Next Blog Entry (4): “DTD & Blondepoker – what’s the score?”

Am loving this thread..

Wp Mr Rob Yong!

+1

That's the first 10 fact post I've ever read. I'm usually a 9 facts or less man.

Loving the blog thing, keep 'em coming.

Nice read.

I have to say, I dont know Rob at all, nor does Rob know me.  I do know who he is when he walks into the place and also know who the other important people are.

I go to DTD once a month or so because I live 110 miles away, long drive, but, It is, without doubt the very best place I have played poker, and for me that also includes the Vegas casinos I have also played in.  I will try and get one of those seats when it happens.  I did read the original diary thread for the club which I found pretty interesting, and will now have this thread set to notify.

GL Rob.

Carl.

Rob I think you're spot on about Mick. I myself had a falling out with him not long ago (who hasn't) Just think he has a raging temper and sometimes let's it get the better of him

Rob, I think your post just confirms what most people understood to be the facts of the case from reading between the lines. Kudos to you for keeping it factual and not resorting to tit-for-tat emotional rants (tempting as I'm sure it must have been at times).

Looking forward to the next instalment.

we;; done rob
what u said r true and i sincerely believe it
well done anyway 4 keeping dtd still open after all that rumours
THE BEST POKER CLUB IN TOWN  8h 8h 8h

haha mick sounds com, sure dont wanna be on his table.

Loving the blog, keep it coming :)

Fixed your post Frankie :D

Rob,

Nice post so far, keep it up.

Just thought I’d add my two penneth for what it’s worth. I’m a fairly regular visitor to DTD as for me it’s only twenty minutes away and clearly one of the best places anywhere in Europe to play live poker.

I have very few gripes with the place - ok, the loos are a mess, the juice is a little high and the acoustics of the place do a marvellous job of amplifying Frankie’s cries of “..is it…!”

But the bottom line is that you have given us a great venue, really out of your love of the game and what it has given you over the years. We all kind of know that DTD is being run at a loss so I think we should all be very grateful that we can play there while we can.

I’m sure you have gone down the correct route of having as many big weekend festivals as possible as this is where the place comes alive and surely generates the most revenue.

To that end, and I don’t think this is aiming too high, have you considered pitching for the WSOP Europe? We’ve already had the likes of Hellmuth and Brunson play in Nottingham, so why not?

You pointed out that despite all the extra taxes (how can any poker player vote Labour now?) that you felt the need to invest further. I’m sure this is correct, a case of two steps back to go four forward. Likewise the DTD World Series idea makes a lot of sense too.

Please stick with it and keep the faith. You are a few steps away from DTD being an absolutely critical player in the world of live poker, if you are not there already in fact.

Oh, and can we have the Omaha tournaments back - I felt they were dropped too soon.

Anyway, good luck.

Pyso,

How many runners did the PLO comps get? I love PLO but people just don't play it enough in comps and I can't see it ever really sustaining any decent amount of runners.

Great blog Rob - Heads up match round 2 soon?

DTD is not owned by Harrah's.

I can think of a few thousand reasons why I might quite like the status quo, as a poker pro.

Rob

Great post re mick mcc, and honest too.

I think it is also very gracious of you to extend a public olive branch to mick, especially under the circumstances.

Hopefully mick will see the light and remove himself from the fringes of the poker society and get back involved with DTD

I personally have no problem with mick and think he would be a good addition back at DTD, with his own kind of poker attitude, but kept somewhere within the boundaries :o)

Hey Rob - Nice read!

I really enjoy DTD and think its a great club. The service is superb and I always will play there if you have big events and I am available.

I have recently become friendly with Mick and personally I believe he is a nice guy with a big heart. I've just started reading his blog as of late, so don't know what the DTD thing is about really - neither do I mind because like I mentioned above, I really rate DTD as a poker venue. I'm sure Mick does too but you guys have just had your differences. I enjoy his jokes and stories along the way he has a good sense of humor and is a good writer imo.

Hopefully you guys will sort things out and will be re-united again in the future.

certainly more gracious than I would be to someone who had posted that sort of vitreol

you have to take mick with a pinch of salt, hes a good mate of mine and if people arent too highly strung you will have fun with him.

Yeah, exactly this...

Nice of you to offer an olive branch, it will be interesting to see how Mick responds...

Trigg - like you and many others i get on well with mick and he has always been good with me (infact my first interaction with him was giving both him and Paul Jackson a rub down on a final table at DTD, he certainly takes it as good as he gives).

I would even consider myslef like Mick in someways, I know i can rub people up the wrong way when at the table, but Im sure that most people who know me away from the poker table think I am a good bloke. Its just the way I am when I play, its the fire I need to beat people, and niggling people is certainly something I use to good effect at the table.

However, I think if you put yourself as owner of DTD, you might take a different view given the circumstances.

Lets hope that this is the start of probably a very slow reconciliation.

A table with Mick Mccool on it is >>>> than one without IMO.
But the comment above implies that if someone doesn't get on with him, there is something wrong with them, and not him. Hmmm.....

Hi Rob

There is one thing above all others that DTD can teach every other poker venue in the UK

"Professional Discipline"

I play quite a few different venues and none of them come anywhere near it

At DTD if they say a tournie will start at a certain time, well it starts on the dot, no later, unlike most other places

If they say 10 minute break, well its 10 minutes, no later

If they guarantee a tournie and they are way short, it still starts on time with no bickering about overlay

If you need the floor they are there straight away with the correct decision from someone who knows what they are talking about.

I can go on and on, but at the end of the day THERES NO PLACE BETTER

You run an excellent ship Rob

Yeah its pretty incred i love the no extended breaks, nothing more tilting than breaks that are too long, some comps waste a whole extra level in a day that you could just bust out of and save the early wakeup.

Problem with casinos an
Problem with casinos and breaks, is that they dont want to drag you off the roulette wheel

Not talking about people who slag off DtD but in general and in life you often have to pay for what you get. If its a top quality product you have been craving for for years then I would be more than happy to pay that little extra. It seems a little bizarre that once people have exactly what they want they critique it on the fundamental business needs to provide such a service/product.

Next Installment?

New Blog Entry (4): “DTD & Blondepoker – what’s the score?”


Back in the days when there was no Blondepoker, I remember nipping Dave Coleclough at the Bellagio cash desk for some dollars for my buy-in to the $25K WPT Championship in Vegas. We got chatting about his and TK’s plans to set up a new poker site and a few months later BP launched, it quickly became somewhere for us all to chat, make arrangements and enjoy a bit of bantor.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and BP is still probably the most popular forum in the UK, although competition is fiercer nowadays as more poker sites and forums have become established and I think it’s fair to say, most of them are probably run on a commercial basis. In all honesty, that’s probably why I like BP, it’s never made any money and although it has flirted with various affiliate deals and sponsorships, it has effectively remained very much a community portal.

My personal links with BP have been strong from the start, we organised the Yongsta Home Games through BP, and I have posted and written blogs on the site. I have also made many friends through BP, people that I would never have come into contact with, even when I was full time on the poker circuit. BP has replaced the names that people were born as, with new identities such as ‘Red Dog’, ‘Ironside’, ‘Booder’, ‘Tightend’ and many more, it has literally made a difference to people’s lives, enabling new entrants onto the poker circuit to feel part of something. I like this, the downside of course of any community is that sometimes it can become a bit ‘clicky’, and I would agree that sometimes this has been the case with BP. However, overall, BP has had an overwhelming contribution to the UK poker community, and some of its first members have now become top poker players, such as Julian Thew.

BP existence is the reason that DTD has not set up a DTD forum, this would not feel right, regardless of business reasons for DTD doing so, when you look at the exposure that BP gave DTD, free of charge, in the painful run up to its opening, I believe this would have been out of order, even though BP have never expressed any wishes against DTD doing so. When DTD finally got its green light, I wanted to repay BP for this exposure, so we sponsored the BP updates and put some DTD banners on their site, I think it was about £50,000 for 12 months, but there was little profit left for BP, as the EPT and WSOP updates were very costly for them.

Over the last 2 years, I have heard various shares in BP have changed hands, I don’t know the details and have never made any offer to buy or been asked. Obviously I talk to TK about BP in terms of “how’s it going”, but that’s about it really, people generally think there is a stronger link, but they are mistaken, the only financial link until recently is that DTD paid BP for updating its £300 Deepstack Weekend.

About six months ago, Nick had a word with me about BP, him and TK had been having a chat, the BP online room was suffering some fairly hefty chargebacks and penalties which were making it harder to make ends meet. I wanted to help so told Nick spoke to TK to see if there was anything that we could do. A deal was agreed for DTD and BP to work more closely together. I was not party to any of the talks, but as I understand it, the basics of the deal are;

1.   Duration of 12 months
2.   DTD underwrites BP’s operating costs such as wages, updates, IT costs etc
3.   BP becomes an exclusive online affiliate of DTD

The idea behind this was to help BP continue to do their updates and other value added stuff, without having the stress of worrying about their operating costs. No shares changed hands therefore DTD does not own any part of BP whatsoever; in fact, I am not even sure myself of the BP current ownership structure.

I believe the deal lasts for 12 months, which gives BP a bit of breathing space after they were treated so badly by ipoker, after that I am not sure what will happen. The rake generated on DTD by BP members has been very small since BP moved off ipoker, which is a pity. I actually think DTD helping with BP’s costs has in this way, probably not done any favours in terms of online rake from BP members, as BP online players probably now perceive there is no need play online with BP to support the site anymore, as DTD are picking up the tab anyway! I am not moaning about this, DTD’s business model also relies on poker players to support the club through playing online, but the theory is flawed, as the majority just chase the ‘value’, and who I am to say that there is anything wrong with that!

Going forward and it is none of my business of course, I would like to see BP moving more towards a UK version of 2+2, I would like to see more pros posting on here and there be more serious poker talk. I don’t want to see the site dominated by DTD stuff, I want BP to remain independent. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I was moaning about the amount of DTD stuff on BP, and asked for us to only have 2 official threads, one for club news and one for online. I am conscious that I do not want BP to become the DTD forum, I want both businesses to work together but retain their own identities, hopefully this is the direction that things will move in the future.

Cheers Rob

Next Blog Entry (5): ”Poker Tax…..what the xxxx is that?”

Nice blogging Rob. You talk a lot of sense. It was good of you to take the time to chat to me when i bumped into you at DTD a while back, you brought me some luck and i hit my first and only DTDFT. Good Luck, in poker and life. :)

Great to see the first post on this diary that didn't mention Mick McCool by name.

It was beggining to get a bit homoerotic   ;D

Rob

Have you ever thought about promoting Blonde a little more in the club.

For example on £300 deepstack posters, you could have a 'Follow the action at blondepoker.com' or similar?

I always find it amazing the number of people who know who I am at DTD because of Blonde when I have no idea who they are!

Stu

Rob do you not think that the lack of rake being produced by BP's affiliate scheme is largely due to the fact that the vast majority of us already had DTD online accounts in place so were not eligible. The only people who would not have had DTD accounts would be newcomers or certainly very recentcomers to the forum and so the figure that they generate would not really reflect all of the accounts that have been generated by BP over the last few years.

Ralph..perspective from this end


About 500 DTD accounts were opened 2007-10 through blonde's affiliate link and they are they pool of accounts we had to start with when we got together recently. Since we announced this partnership about 50 other accounts have been "re-tagged" to us from players who contacted me and said - I paraphrase "we don't play on DTD much but we have an account. We didn't open it on blonde but we heard about DTD because of you and would like to support blonde, and play a bit more" and kindly DTD have indeed tagged all of these accounts to us. Of course it wouldn't be in their interests to re-tag a big existing player to us as they would be losing margin, but for where it is re-activating accounts they are happy to help.

If anyone wants to be tagged to blonde, PM me.

Industry experience suggests that when any online room/skin moves networks or, in our case closes and sets up with another arrangement, about 40-50% of gross rake is lost in the transition. In our case its been more than that. Considerably more.

This reflects a couple of factors

a) Our income was skewed towards a minority of sizeable players under our IPoker offer. In all bar one case these players haven't come across. In one case its been a case of "not yet". In a couple of cases the players aren't interested in playing on Boss. Reasons include the software (inevitably) and absence of suitable games (big prize pool fishy MTTs on IPoker are what they play)

b) It's been a tricky time for the forum with some people not around for various reasons to play, and some won't have been inclined to play with us.

So as yet we're not covering even our much reduced costs from rake (myself, server, promotion fund etc) which I find uncomfortable but my head is down trying to increase rake whether that be via promotion ideas, cash nights, speaking to players, promoting at events (over 150 cards were handed out at the Irish Open for example) and re-activating our players from previously

Of course am grateful for all the support to date, and the support of DTD as outlined by Rob above.

Thank you for that Rich, I understand the position much better now.

Hi Rob,

Great to meet you a few months back at dtd, even if it did cost me a monkey. :)

As regards DTD poker site, I assume I was one of the bigger grinders in the last few months when DTD was with ipoker, regularly raking over $1k a month. Ok not huge, but significant, especially if others were also raking similar figures.

The software on DTD (i.e Boss) means I just cant imagine myself doing the same thing on there, even though from a personal standpoint I would 100x rather see DTD getting my rake than anywhere else.

Has there ever been any intention to move network?

Also, Tikay and other longstanding members have highlighted the fact many times that they don't like the aggressive nature of the forum, so I can't imagine it becoming like 2+2 which makes this place look a playground.

Couldn't agree more. I like most new people on here joined as a direct result of the £300 updates but have found the forum to be extremely unwelcoming to new members. That surprised me as "Colchester Kev" who I met 1st of all is such a nice guy. In my experience posts from new members just get a flaming.

So much so that this is probably only about the 3rd/4th post I've ever made in a thread that is not a live update. (I only found this thread as I came through from M McCools blog)

I post on several other forums, all of which are far more friendly and helpful than this one.

I wouldn't let a few keyboard warriors turn you off blonde.  There are far more decent and friendly people on here.

In fact, the mood of the forum has been fairly positive and more friendly over the past week or so - so maybe things are looking up.

in your first post you say you work for another poker forum.



 

Not sure what your point/question is.

If it's a Q, then I would just clarify that I do not now or have I ever worked for another forum.

Yes I did help out on "PokerTourRadio.com" doing interviews/updates at several large poker events including some DTD ones and on the one and only time we covered the £300 deepstack event via "live audio stream" I did help out with the commentary.

The venture has been put into moth balls and has not covered any event for several months and it looks unlikely that it ever will again. So I have no connection with them anymore.

Shame really as I really enjoyed the £300 deepstack weekends at DTD. Though I was not involved in the financial side of the website I can reasonably assume that it was just too expensive to put on without a sponsor as I'm sure the people who run Blonde can appreciate.

The show was starting to get really popular, when we covered the event live we had the bandwidth for 1,000 listeners and it maxed out, so the interest was certainly there.

My love of live poker remains strong and that's why I always follow the updates on blonde (unless I'm actually playing the event) and I, perhaps more than most, can appreciate how incredibly hard the up-daters work.

THIS!

;)

Mr Fluence, I do so hope you have put your name down for BB9 at DTD...

Rob, great thread..x

Tighty
I may well be assuming wrongly, but I reckon a few of the bigger rakers for the site when on ipoker didn't come over as they got annoyed, and rightfully so, at losing their rakeback when you were having problems with ipoker and chargebacks. IIRC a few had moved to the ipoker site to help out, even though it was a lower rate then they had been getting

That might be the case yes, but not a factor that was mentioned to me recently. Of course if we could have avoided our problems firstly, or found a better way to deal with them, we would have done so.

New Blog Entry (5): “Poker Tax…..what the xxxx is that?”


In early May 2009, I received an email from my tax advisor at Deliotte Touché, Darren Hobson, it said, “Hi Rob, I hope you are well, it looks like there are going to be a couple of tweaks in the finance bill this year, mainly for bingo, I’ve attached the draft bill and will get back to you, cheers Darren.” It was a small, polite, none descript and casual email, little did I know, it was the beginning of another mini crisis for DTD.

I had totally forgot about the email from Darren, I get so much information every day from various sources, if it’s not mega urgent, it gets deleted until the subject comes up again! Darren called me a week later sounding very concerned, he confirmed that there was going to be a new ‘poker tax’, I replied, “poker tax, what the xxxx is that?’, he went on to say that there was going to be new gaming duty of up to 50% on all revenues generated from poker, tournament registration fees, cash game rake, cash game session fees, even sit and go’s qualified for the poker tax. I was in a meeting at the club with Nick and Simon at the time, discussing possible overlays from online satellites to our pending £1k event, we were debating how many seats to GTE online, I put the phone down feeling sick and just said, “forget about overlays, we are in very deep shit.”

I can not be 100% certain, but I believe that DTD generates the largest amount of revenue directly from poker in the UK, by some distance, the casino groups may generate more with all their UK venues combined, but this new tax was based on a per venue basis, so we would be the biggest contributors of poker tax in the UK, so I found it quite amazing that we were never even consulted or given any advance warning.  

Poker is hardly mentioned in any government literature, and the question still exists whether poker is a ‘game of chance’, therefore subject to UK gaming law, or is a indeed a ‘game of skill’, in which case poker winnings should be subject to taxation, and losses would be able to be set of against your personal tax bill! The government believe it is a game of chance if it takes place inside a licensed casino, but you only have to look at the 40-50 unregulated card clubs that continue to operate, to see that the government is not exactly sure what to do with poker in the UK.

The new tax on poker was made law in August 2009, it was even backdated to March 2009, it only effected poker which is played in casino licenced premises, it was an attempt by the government to increase the overall taxes on casinos in the UK, and is linked to numerous gaming tax battles between the UK Gaming Companies and Customs and Excise, unfortunately, DTD just got stuck the xxxxing middle!

My first reaction was that we need to find some way of getting round this, like call our poker revenue a ‘service charge’ or something, but my accountants and lawyers were uncomfortable with this approach, DTD is owned by my holding company, so everything needs to be 100% legal. The additional taxes increased DTD costs by £400K, the club was already losing money, so this was a bit of a disaster for us but totally out of our control, a bit like when the price of petrol goes up because OPEC have decided to produce less oil, that is also xxxx all to do with us, but we still have to pay for it when we fill our car up the next day.

I have to admit, I was getting pretty sick of owning a poker club at this point, I thought opening the damn thing was hard enough, the £80,000 worth of overlays in our £1k grand slam tournament did not make me feel any better either, so I decided to have a few days away to think about things, I hate being a quitter but am well aware that there comes a time when you have to walk away when everything possible has been tried. We were faced with three clear options;

1.   Sell the club
2.   Generate more revenue (somehow!)
3.   Install casino table games

We looked at all three options in detail, I was always uncomfortable with plans to install casino and roulette tables, and in reality, quite a few of our poker tables would have to have been sacrificed to do this, therefore reducing our capacity to run larger events. We had no shortage of interest in purchasing the club, from inside and outside of the UK, the amounts of money were not great, but you’re not in a good bargaining position when you are ‘on you knees with your pants around your ankles’, everyone knew we had problems. I spent 2-3 weeks working solidly with Nick, we had plans drawn up to install casino table games and quotes from suppliers, we also met with potential buyers, a decision needed to made quickly, as the rumours were not doing DTD’s reputation any good, players were even withdrawing their money from the online card room and our club members were getting really concerned. There was never any danger of DTD closing or going bust, I would never have let that happen, but it’s hard to stop the rumour mill spiralling.

In the end, we decided on a hybrid solution that would enable us to continue running DTD as a poker club but try to generate more revenue;

1.   Install more electronic gaming in addition to the current 4 machines
2.   Open DTD every weekends
3.   Open 7 days if necessary

I personally felt much happier with this solution, we could keep out 50 poker tables and start being creative with designing different weekend events, although I would prefer not to open 7 days if possible. A lot has happened since the word ‘poker tax’ was first mentioned, we have had to invest a further £350K in gaming reserve and fixtures and fittings, the staff have put a huge effort in to make things happen, from Maria on reception to Danny and Mark in the card room, everyone has pulled together. DTD has paid every single penny of the new duty on poker, we are operating going forward on a breakeven position, okay, the weather screwed us in January, but the crisis caused by this change in taxation has been dealt with….….what’s going to go wrong next, maybe a bolt of lightening will strike the club and hit me directly while I am sitting on the toilet?


Next Blog Entry (6): “DTD & Pokerstars”

Rob ever thought about putting a machine in the smoking area?

 probably a bit tacky but whilst they smoke out there they aren't spending investing.

Cant wait for this bit

  The additional taxes increased DTD costs by £400K, the club was already losing money, so this was a bit of a disaster for us but totally out of our control

   Quite staggering, given all thats gone before, your financial advisors never slapped you around the face and said "for goodness sake just sell the *&%$*&* club!!"

   Thank god you didn't! ;applause; :)up

 

They may well have done!

Rob's too stubborn ;)

This tax has hit the Vic for over £1m per year...

Is that for the poker only John or house games too?

Just poker

Thats a lot of pokerz :)up

Are u Ferengi

I'm fairly sure that outside areas like this cannot be licensed for gaming machines or tables.

Les A club in London has an outside smoking gambling area....tables and machines if I remember.

http://www.lesambassadeurs.com/index.html?page=smoking-gaming-area

To get to break even after that was dropped on you is a superb acheivement  ;applause;

Is it annoying from a commercial point of view between DTD and blonde that Tikay has just disappeared?

Firstly what did you want to achieve with your post... Who did you want to a bite at your bait?

He's Probably sick of negative comments from people like you! ( I am)

Rob and Nick are understanding and are caring types of chaps who support Tony and Blonde 100%.

What do you want Rob, Nick or DTD to post. There not happy with the deal ?

Show a bit of class please.

I of course apologise if this is just through the frustration of how the Greek economy has turned to Ratshit and Murder.   

Regards

M


 

i was thinking this the other day he has not been onlibe for 2 weeks

WTF is this all about? Cos has asked a valid question. Blonde is half the place without Tikay, If he was here promoting DTD etc then i'm sure traffic on the site would be busier. Look at the impact he has on Sky Poker. The minute he logs in and is on his thread then 10-15 people are viewing his diary waiting for him to post, then probably double that are viewing the thread once he has posted. The affect he has on blonde is massive.

To ask if DTD are worried or concerned about his lack of activity on Blonde isn't that terrible a question. In fact, it's quite a good question for someone who comes from a country with an economy that has turned to Ratshit & Murder.

Wow please get off your high horse. You tell me to show class and you make some stupid irrelevant comment about the Greek economy? wp you.

First of all, I have a huge amount of respect for Tikay. I have also supported blonde in a hell of a lot of ways; plugged it on my blog, on the radio show, always wear the badge at live events (including one on TV). I always talk up DTD in much the same way. So I don't make my comment to just bring the place down, in fact I want to see both absolutely thrive.

My question is relevant and fair in relation to the thread and wouldn't cause a stir if a dousche like you didn't choose to take issue with it.

Regards,

G

Cos and John, please keep it civil

I'm not deleting anything on Rob's thread unless I really have to....but please don't make things awkward for the mods by making it personal thanks

No objection to legitimate questions (particularly those which affect me directly lol) which Rob and tikay can choose to answer if they wish to do so

FYP

Regards

E

Blog Entry (6 ) DTD & Pokerstars

One of the most common rumours that I get asked about, usually in the DTD smoking area, is whether we have sold or intend to sell any part of DTD to Pokerstars, especially since it was announced that DTD was to be one of the legs of the new UKIPT. Last year, I did meet with a few of Pokerstars’ management and they presented us with a few different options, one of which was to work with them by hosting some of their live events, and this was my preferred choice. To associate yourself with their brand can only be good for DTD going forward and it’s really important that this UKIPT event goes well this week. If at some point in the future, I wanted to move away from DTD, Pokerstars would be the first company that I would approach if they were interested in having a live venue in the UK, because they are genuinely passionate about poker and I believe they would at least maintain the standards we have set.......and probably not replace our 50 poker tables with blackjack and roulette!

I wanted to write a bit about Pokerstars because I find their organisation very interesting, in comparison to stereotype market leaders in other business sectors, who can often be bureaucratic, corporate and sluggish. I have found Pokerstars to be very different, they are able to pay attention to every single detail, they are always looking to enter new markets aggressively and every single Pokerstars employee that I have ever met seems full of enthusiasm for their job. Their company has remained privately owned, I think the founder owns 75% and the employees 25%, therefore the organisation is free of the constraints and expectations of the stock market and external investors. In such a small space of time, Pokerstars have been right at the centre of the huge growth in poker’s global popularity, I remember when they founded the EPT with John Duffy, smashed their first £1m Sunday guarantee and of course, how they held their nerve and continued taking US online customers, despite changes in US legislation, its been quite an amazing ride so far for what effectively started off as a few lines of computer code.

I am not kissing ass because Pokerstars are holding their UKIPT leg at DTD this week, far from it, I normally loathe big companies that tread on everyone else in their quest for world domination, I hate seeing how the supermarkets are putting our corner shops and pubs out of business and how these big retail parks are killing our town centres as well as being built on green belt land with taxpayers money and backhanders to corrupt councilors. I naturally always side with the ‘David’, not ‘Goliath’, in fact, I was one of the poker players that often slagged off Pokerstars, especially when they put the EPT buy-ins up, but now I am on the other side of the fence, I can see how really professional they are and there is a basic difference between them and some of their competitors, they genuinely love poker and maintain this ethos by employing people who share their love of poker.

I have decided to treat myself and play the UKIPT this week, I have never played an event at the club so I am really looking forward to it, this is such a good value tournament for a £500 buy-in, I just have to play. I spoke to Nick this morning and he told me we already have over 400 runners confirmed, so hopefully we will set a new record for the UKIPT, between 600 – 700 is probably my estimate, although we have staffed for 810 just in case. I expected Day 1b (Thu) to be much more popular than Day 1a (Wed), but so far we have about 200 runners for each, so it looks like I was wrong about that! I am also interested to see how their £50 freezout super satellite does tonight, most of DTD’s satellites to events are rebuys, but maybe we could look at doing freezouts if this one gets a good turnout at the club this evening. I guess the only thing I would change is their £100K GTE, I think they could have pushed the boat out a little more to maybe £200K, as £100K only equates to 200 runners, but I guess in their first season, they did not expect their tour so be so popular.

With the GUKPT’s, the Gala Tour, the UKIPT and our own DTD events, there is so much poker available in the UK now, whilst this choice is currently great for players, I am not sure if this is sustainable in the long term and believe we could see a decline in certain events, there is only so much money to go around, and the growth in new poker players will inevitably reduce in what is already becoming a mature marketplace. Personally, I favour the recent trend towards lower buy-ins and higher fields, this allows a bigger pool of players to take a shot at winning decent money, but I am still fearful of the sheer volume of poker tournaments going on in the UK at the moment.

Good luck to anyone on Blondepoker that is playing the UKIPT at DTD this week, here is the link to the UKIPT schedule at DTD this week http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/festivalinfo.php?id=33

Cheers Rob

Next Blog Entry (7) My Day 1b UKIPT

The comments about my absence are noted. I much regret being absent, but it was unavoidable & I have continued to support blonde & DTD in other under-the-radar ways, as many know.

I will be explaining "why" soonest, but nobody should jump to wrong conclusions, as some already seem to have done.

I remain 100% grateful to, & supportive of, Rob & Nick at DTD, & I chat to them regularly. But let's keep Rob's thread on topic please, & any complaints as to my position, please put them on my Diary, thanks.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaa Tikay back woooooooop woooooooooop    ;letsparty;  Sorry for getting carried away Back to you Rob

New Blog Entry (7): “My First UKIPT”

I was hoping for 700 runners, but 650 was not too far off and it was the 2nd largest field ever in England, behind last years EPT. The main event was also a record number of runners for any DTD tourney, so I think everyone was pretty happy with the field, players, pokerstars and DTD (okay, maybe the DTD kitchen got a bit of a shock!).

I believe we are close to agreeing a deal with Pokerstars to hold the event again next year so they must have been reasonably happy with how things went over the week. What was nice to see was the success of the side events, very well supported by the DTD members, in particular the 177 runners in the NL 6 max, which I am a big fan of. I think we could look at developing this 6 max concept in DTD, both in terms of cash games and tournaments. A big thank you to our regulars for supporting the week, I know these events were quite a bit more expensive that our normal weekly schedule!

This was my first event that I have played at DTD, the structure was great and I have actually changed my mind about the 12pm start that Pokerstars decided to go with, players on the whole found it more enjoyable to finish at 9pm, and have time for a few beers with friends, as well as play some cash.  Finishing earlier also helped some of the travelling players as they had enough time to drive home and get a decent nights sleep, before returning feeling fresh to play more poker the next day.

I have hardly played any poker for the last 4 years, I have been way to busy with DTD and my football club, but things have settled down a bit now, I am looking forward to playing more, Simon Trumper has recently set up some VIP games every week in the club, Wed (DC), Fri (NL) and Sun (Omaha), and I have been playing in these. Unfortunately, I am £7,000 down in these cash games so far this year, even after taking into account winning £10,000 in cash games last week, but that’s not really a significant amount for the size of the games being played, however, clearly I am not playing that well!

Despite my ‘rust’ in playing tourneys, I had set myself a target to end day 1 with 45,000 chips, which would mean I went into day 2 in good shape or busted out early. I know many players believe grinding and waiting for hands is the correct strategy and going into the next day with average chips is fine, but the arguments for a more aggressive early strategy are equally as valid, you have to navigate through so many difficult situations with 650 runners, I think its better to have more chips and be able to survive the inevitable accidents and coin flips along the way.

During Day 1, I was never all-in for my tournament life and rarely had many show downs, I also never outdrew anyone after the money went in, so I felt that I played pretty well. The key hand was when I flat called a min re-raise by obvious AA after I had raised UTG with QQ, flop came Qc Th 8h and I check raised all-in on the flop, I actually think my opponent can possibly think about folding here, as the pot was only 6,000 ish, but he insta called his remaining 24,000, I guess I had a VLAG image on the table.  I ended day 1 with 55,000 chips, I peaked at 75,000 but lost 2 coin flips against short stacks, however not a bad days work and I was about 25th in the chip counts.

Day 2 started off pretty badly, I stupidly called a UTG raise on the BB with Ks 8s and donked off a third of my stack checkraising flop and betting turn on K high board (I put him on QQ as he was in check call mode), I should have moved in on the end as I then knew I was behind to AA or AK, but river went check check and AA won, it was a scary board and I believe he would have folded for an all-in as he would have been beat if I had any 2 pair or better.

I got back up to 50,000 with a few positional re-raises and continuation bets, the table was very tight and I felt I could probably get through the day without taking too many showdowns, until I found a monster starting hand, 5c 8c in the SB, with an UTG limper in the pot. It was 600 more to call with about 4,000 already in the middle, so I decided to take a flop but not get married to an 8 high board, the flop came down Jc 4c 6c, I had flopped an 8 high flush with a 1 outer to the straight flush. I checked expecting the UTG limper to represent, but the BB fired out 4,000 and the UTG limper just flat called, I am never folding the hand unless another club comes/pair up so I just called aswell, the turn was a 9d and I checked again, this time the BB fired out 10,000 and the UTG limper folded, the BB was a very tight player but I was almost sure he had 2 pair/small set and would pay me off even if the river did not pair the board, so I smooth called the 10,000, the river came a 2h, and I moved in for 30,000 representing a busted flush draw, he insta called with Tc 7c and I was out. I have thought about the hand and people have said I should have bet out and then folded to a re-raise on the flop or turn, but because of my VLAG image, people with sometimes go all the way with just top pair/weak kicker with me, so I can't fold hands like this as their range is much wider, I’m happy with how I played the hand, and I really enjoyed the tournament.

I got a small £1000 touch in the £50 bounty comp on Sunday (maybe more my level at the moment) where I had a £300 bounty put on my head generously donated by Pokerstars, I should probably have won it when we got down to 3 players, I had half the chips in play but I lost 8 all-ins to one player, when I had her crushed almost every time, so it was not meant to be. I even lost with AQ on a QQ2 flop, all the money went in against her 88 and she rivered her 2 outer to make a boat! I think I had 350,000 chips and she had 25,000, and she ended up knocking me out – ahhh!

Overall, an excellent week, good to see so many familiar faces, the £10,000 winnings on cash games meant I ended the week in profit, so roll on the next Pokerstars UKIPT at Dusk Till Dawn!

During the week, I had quite a few questions about what we are going to do in Vegas at the WSOP this year, so I’ll talk about the plans/arrangements in the next blog entry, there is a £20 RB sat into the main event satellite tomorrow at DTD (3pm start – buy in for 3 levels) if you don’t fancy stumping up the £500 to try and win a seat. There are also some 20 euro stats online, here is the link for all WSOP info http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/satellites.php?satellite=7

Next Blog Entry (eight) “WSOP...here we come”

6 max cash tables.....yes please.

u playing this weekend

Yep that was me. Having lost sleep about that hand, and wondering whether or not I could have folded there, I still think that folding would have been weak. There were a couple of players at the table that I would have snap-folded my AA against in this spot, but because of the super-LAG image you had engineered for yourself, I felt that your range was particularly wide when you shoved, and you could easily have had KK, a flush draw, or straight draw (I just hoped it wasn't a combo draw). If you had a striaght draw, then I had two of your outs, and if you had a flush draw, I had ace hearts. A flopped set was way up at the top of your range - there was so much more that I was beating, that I just had to call. 

Thought perhaps I should have raised more preflop - the min-raise was silly - but as it turned out, it was irrelevant.

Edit: Also, for the record, you were all in and at risk.... I had you covered, albeit after the hand I only had around 15xBB left.  The worst part about losing so much of my stack was that I didn't get to play with Michelle Orpe for long before I lost the rest :(

 ;booder;

 ;bump;

Robert please can you tell us some more stories!?

Info on the new cash room at DTD? Or maybe how u like to peel a 3 bet oop with A4 off, get a 46Q flop, peel again and get there vs AQ. There all dying to hear it.

 ;popcorn;

Next Blog Entry (eight) “WSOP...here we come”

Guess Rob is busy atm.......but those in contact, pls remind him. :)

2011 obv ;hide;

from elsewhere, when Rob spoke at the APAT WCOAP last week

I hope some of you caught the interview between tikay the APAT chairman and DTD Owner Rob Yong

Rob Said that DTD has been open for three years now, after 18 months of delays pre-opening fighting the casino lobby who wanted to prevent him opening

DTD is still in the red weekly, as the traffic into the room from the area is insufficient to cover costs.

However DTD has so far hosted 45 third party events for the likes of APAT, Norwegian and Greek Poker Championships, Stars, Ladbrokes etc which enable DTD to continue as is.

For the UKIPT DTD hosted the largest ever UK tournament outside the EPT, with over 600 players taking place.

DTD therefore values its relationships with third party event holders like Stars and Betfair/APAT very highly

Rob spoke about his admiration for APAT and his amazement at the distances players travel to participate in APAT events. He complimented the APAT range of tournaments in the festival currently taking place.

Jeez, I've done so many things in the last week, & visited so many places, I plum forgot that interview. Not sure if it's recorded anywhere, but he spoke, as always, very openly & honestly about the good ship DTD, & it'd be worth listening to his comments. Tell you what, I feel sorry sometimes for Nick Whiten - trying to second-guess Rob's thoughts is unbelievably difficult, he thinks on a different plane altogether.

I don't think it was recorded, but I listened and took notes. Good interview. Good festival too, I think DTD were very happy too.

Fancy that Rich, you taking notes.

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

Rob Yong explains the decision to make the DTD Deepstack bi-monthly.

Rob’s £40K Grand Prix Update – 25 days to go!

 

Many club regulars will already know that we have done a deal to televise the Grand Prix and the November £300 Deepstack weekend on Virgin 1 (recently changed to Sky Channel 1) and Sky 860. The company that are filming the events, have done work for most of the major poker brands, and are talking to us about televising some of our bigger events coming up at Dusk Till Dawn, such as the £1k Grand Slam Events (starting December).

 

As it was the Grand Prix event which initially sparked an interest, this will be the first to be televised. It will be great to see some of our locals on T.V, and hopefully one of the ‘characters’ will make the final table!

 

Sigh… we now have a “massive” 81 runners bought in, so with 25 days left to enter, we need an average of 31 entries per day to break the 848 record set by Pokerstars at the EPT last week. I need your help! With the record attempt now being televised, I would like the minimum amount of egg on my face for trying this event!

 

Not surprisingly, a few of my savvy poker friends have seen this as an opportunity to make a few quid out of me by betting how many runners we will actually achieve at the Grand Prix. The general consensus is that we are going to struggle to get over 500, and I think my pride may have been getting the better of me as I have taken on some of these bets - including one quite sizable one that we will get under 600 runners!

 

This is a really fun tournament to put on. It’s not just a great structure and loads of value for £50, it’s more about having a go at something that seems unachievable. I think our largest ever field for a £50 comp is just over 300, and that was inflated because we had a Riley’s third part event the next day; quite a few players deciding to make a weekend of it.

 

Several players have questioned the 1pm start time on the Friday. To avoid an early start, we could have done a 30 minute clock or given fewer chips, but I wanted to give this event as good a structure as possible. If a player is a couple of levels late, he or she will still have plenty of chips to play. Actually, the person may have saved themselves chips by not playing the early levels and getting AA busted by J3 when the blinds are so low. As we know, some of our players such as ‘Chip Shop Frankie’ will call with any 2 cards just to Google a rock!

 

I have no shame in asking for your cooperation in getting me to a respectable number (500+ is ‘respectable’), so come on, help me out here.

 

 

Cheers Rob

Rob

If you want this to work you have to allow buy in at the club and also do the payouts in cash on the day as per the norm.

I am personally a big supporter of DTD and play there fairly regularly but I'm a bit miffed at having to buy in online and then cashout if I somehow manage to cash. If someone like myself sees it as a hassle I'm certain that plenty of others will as well.

I understand that you want people to use the cardroom and that this is a way to get them there but to combine that with an ambitious attempt at a huge field comp just won't work imo.

If you allow buy in at the club I'll register next time I'm there. If not I honestly don't know if I'll even play.

I don't want to sound harsh with this I'm just trying to be honest and supply some feedback from a personal point of view.

Cheers

Matt

^^THIS^^

I'm in (y)

I think it would be better if you gave ppl more notice so ppl can arrange days off etc etc

Also time to spread
Also the online only thing is a good idea in theory but its next to impossible to apply into practice.

I honestly don't get the reluctance to buyin/cash out online, how difficult can it be?

Its just insanely annoying.

Its not hard to reg, but why force it upon us?

Whether I win £75 or £13,000 I want the option of taking cash.

me neither, always use it if i can - beats queueing and stuff

however if a significant number of potential participants have a real problem with it i guess it ought to be addressed.

think main issue will be the disparate numbers between saturday and friday

It's not difficult in the slightest.

It just really bugs me.

If it bugs me it must bug other people hence my suggestion to change it.

Also I think when trying to break records u need it to be easily and conveniently accessible to as many ppl as possible 

I imagine that the prospect of getting people to register online accounts is good for marketing because they are added to the mailing list, and new players depositing into the online room and having any winnings put into it is good for the online business as most likely a lot of them will have a little spin up on the site rather than mess around getting it into their banks - not knocking this, I think its a good idea. I for one also prefer to get any winnings in an online account just on the off chance I get mugged (more likely than me cashing in a tourney I suppose).

But I agree with Paul, if you want to break a record you have to make it easy for everyone. How about giving some incentive like free drinks or someink if you register online?

You used to get half priced juice if you reg'd online. I used to do it all the time then but that stopped.

It's also a pain because it's in Euros but than discussion's been done to death.

My attempt at registering online generated a little extra rake for DTD. My account was close to zero and not wanting to play on the site I deposited what I thought was exactly the right amount - £56... Realising my error I decided to ust spin up the odd £2...
Losing £20 on the third or fourth hand with AA<AQ meant it took slightly longer than planned :-(

Nonetheless, I'm in!

I look forward to having the problem of finding out how to make a withdrawal

Hello,

I read a lot of peoples the comments on here, especially the ones on Dusk Till Dawn, for what it’s worth here of my comments on some of the recent subjects;

Quality of our Dealers

I think the quality of our dealers in the up there with any card room, when we hold larger events, we bring in self employed dealers, on the whole, these dealers are good, many of them such as Harvey are almost permanent fixtures now, but there is the odd time when a self employed dealer doesn’t work out, and we don’t bring them in again. There are also times when some of our own dealers get a bit sloppy and need a nudge in the right direction, but for every complaint about one of our dealers, we do get a lot more compliments.

Changes to Weekend Tournaments

We do change our weekend schedules around, events such as Sky, Redtooth, Pokerstars, Rileys, APAT often mean we have to shuffle our events around. We also try different things such as Super 50’s, various Deepstacks, Grand Slams, Terminators, 6 max and Twenty Twentys, some work, some don’t, its trial and error. We recently tried a £300 Deepstack a couple of weeks  after the monthly one, and it went pear shaped, we had a £80k overlay in one of £1K comps last year when we could have selected a better date, proven when we got 313 at the next one. We definately make mistakes but I think we do get more stuff right than wrong.

Overlays

Overlays in the club and online average about £10k - £15k a month, some weeks we get hit by a big one, for example, £15k when we clashed our £300 event with the Irish Open, however, we do not spend much marketing money externally, some card rooms and sites pay thousands a month to be in magazines and third party web sites, we set big guarantees as part of our marketing, sometimes we even create tournaments when we know there will almost certainly be an overlay, sometimes we don’t change our guarantees when we know we are going to get less runners due to other events happening on the same weekend, we want to be known for big prize pools relative to the buy-in, and that of course, has its risks, but means we don’t have to spend advertising and marketing in other areas. At the end of the day, an overlay is just adding to the prize pool and therefore giving money back to your customers, which hopefully they will come back and try and spin up again at the next comp.


Our Next Big Tournament

“When is the next big one” is a common question I get asked at the club, last year we did £250K GTE and £1,000 buy-in for our annual December event, we have not released details for this year yet because Pokerstars have been asking us about the possibility of a December date for their UKIPT, but that’s definitely next February now, so there is no problem hosting our annual December event, details will be on the web site soon and it will be televised.

Grand Prix

I have read some comments on here about some people not wanting to buy in online because this is a hassle for them. Over 90% of club members that have played a £50 FO or a weekend Super 50 at the club already have an online account, it takes like 2 mins to register maximum, less time that waiting in the queue for cash desk. The tournament is really targeted at our £50 regular players, not bringing in new poker players, when we did Super 50’s and Twenty Twenty’s we got 200+ people buying online for each day, it was no problem at all. We have “in house” online support, based at my head office and at the club in the evenings, so any problems can be dealt with straight away for anyone that has the slightest issue buying into the Grand Prix. The time spent posting on the subject is probably more that it would take someone to buy-in, no one says you have to play online to get into the tournament, you just have to register online, SKY Poker did this at their grand final at our club, as do most of the companies that hold events at our club, so I really think this is no big deal, I actually prefer to buy-in to all comps online myself, so I know 100% I have got a seat and I can use my online funds to do it, its so simple. The Friday 1pm start has been mentioned, well, if that doesn’t suit someone, just buy-in on Saturday, there are 400 places left!   

Television

When we opened to club, we invested in a TV table with hole cameras, a TV lighting rig and various cabling to make the club TV friendly, but apart for third party events and a bit of web streaming on our site, we have never filmed any of our own tournaments as the cost is around £30K - £40K per event.  A couple of months ago a TV gaming production company called Casino tv approached us for some poker content to go on Virgin 1 and Sky 860, we have agreed a deal to televise 5 events at Dusk Till Dawn over the coming months, which will be broadcast on Virgin 1 and Sky 860, and probably  a third channel. To be honest, I think they had already planned to do this in a venue in London, which would make more sense as they are based in London, but when they saw how easy it was to film at our club, that may have swung it. I think the viewing figures average around 200,000 on Virgin 1 at the time when the show will be broadcast, which is pretty decent as far as poker shows go, so will be great to see some of our regulars on TV, especially if they make the final table. The events agreed so far to televise are:

29th – 31 October   £50 Grand Prix (GTE £40K)

6th – 7th November   £300 Deepstack (GTE £100K)

16th – 19th December   £1000 Event (details to be confirmed)

The TV company ideally wanted a £100K prize pool for the November £300 deepstack, we could have increased the buy-in to £500 rather than try and get more runners, but that would have been too easy, so we are sticking with £300 and keeping our fingers crossed, it would be amazing to get both these events rocking for our first every televised events at the club.

VIP Room

Most of our members have noticed the VIP room has been ripped to bits and is having a new fit out, can I confirm that we are definitely NOT putting Blackjack and Roulette tables in there, I must have had 100+ people ask me that! We are just putting 3 -4 cash tables in there for higher limits, our version of Bobbys Room at the Bellagio, and therefore giving it a makeover, plus we want to make it TV friendly. Over the last 6 months Simon Trumper has been arranging bigger and bigger games at the club, and we feel that the next step is to have a dedicated area for these games. I play in the NL games regularly, and the games are getting bigger and bigger, especially at Deepstack weekends, we do have some very good players who have worked there way up to these stakes from the 50p £1 in the club, I have been trying to bust them but they are too good!

I hope this update helps,

Cheers Rob

PS. Please buy into the Grand Prix early , Nick and Simon thought I was mad to do this for a £50 comp and we only have 91 people so far, so it’s not looking too rosy

Thanks for the comments Rob.

Seeing as you've asked nicely I'll reluctantly buy in online for the grands prix. ;)

I think the TV comps will be fantastic. You'll smash the guarantee for the 300 easily.

It'll hopefully help the grands prix as well.

Good luck as always.

Matt

91 already is good going imo since 90%+ of poker players don't like to arrange things the day before nevermind a few weeks before,good times ahead and will be hoping to make both.I reckon the 300 will be huge.

Think this TV deal will be massive for the club. Congrats on getting it sorted. Makes sense what you say about saving money on advertising and putting it into guarentees for comps. Keeps the money in the poker community.

I presume its just the final being televised in the comps or is there going to be a feature table? Im not very good at making finals you see!

Also looking forward to the new cash room and big guarentees. Good luck with it all.

Just a weekly 'specials menu' for food to be added now for us fattys and ill move in for good  ;D

Mitch.

Thanks for the clarification, Rob.

Buying in Online.

As you mentioned, the Sky Poker Grand final used this system, & enabled the 250+ runner Comp, which included many DTD newbies, to get off smack on time. Sky Poker have yet to announce their 2010/11 Tour Details, but we have already booked the Grand Final Venue. There is no other chioice, you have looked after us superbly.

Dealer Thread.

1 or 2 of the comments made me wince with embarrassment. I think Rich Wootton's replies were most dignified, all things considered. On the whole, the Dealer standards at DTD are the best in the UK, though obviously, you can't get every decision right.

Grand Prix.

I cannot be there as it clashes with the Sky Poker Blackpool leg, but I hope your efforts prevail. There's been no shortage of folks saying it can't be done, but "can't" is a word many people like to use. "Can" is better. 

DTD & blonde.

Finally, this is a great opportunity, on behalf of Blondepoker Web Ltd, to thank DTD for their immense support since Day One, but especially in 2010. blonde would not be here were it not for DTD, & I think the vast majority of blondes appreciate this.  The range of new initiatives you keep trying at DTD never ceases to amaze me, &  a few are bound to fail (which seems not to deter you), but no other place makes so much effort to revitalise & energise Live Poker in the UK. Long may it last. It's not in poker players genes to say "thanks & well done", but we think it, we really do.

I've said it before but "If Carlsberg did poker, they'd do it like DTD"

awesome, aiming to play the grand prix, the 300 and the December 1k when details are announced.

Wasnt overly excited by the Grand Prix, more to do with me lacking excitement about live poker than anything else.

Luckily though the idea arose to have a 2 pint minimum per level throughout the Saturday with Matt.

For that reason I am in.

If anyone else would like to be included in the rounds please let us know.

Just out of interest

If it is to remain online buy in only does that mean there are no late entries or alternates allowed at the club?

They could use one of the laptops/pc terminals in the club I spose

Would rather it was 2 meals per level but w/e. Im in.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii    :cheers:

Thats actually the perfect challenge for me because I am equally lightweight in both drinking challenges and making it to the antes.

Defo in if I can make it

Was hoping to have around 6 players from our home game come up for this.

These are very recreational players that have only come up to DTD once or twice each (we are 90 mins away)

Mentioned its online buy in AND any winnings go into your account rather than cash at club, and met with total disinterest in playing, even with the massive value if there is an overlay.

Now there will just be 2 of us coming up

Appartenly a mini busload of people are coming from Dundee for this.  5-10.  Every little helps.

I just don't get it. what's the problem with having winnings paid into an on-line account?

I spend half my life trying to get money into an on-line account.

+1001

Even a degen like me could press the cashout button without having done more than 10% of it back online :D

tax dodging, benefit claiming, hiding gambling addiction from partner etc etc

I think you need a circle of more honest friends ;D

U can buy ecards in the club (I think) which are like top up cards

Hey I am playing, I havent a problem with paying online or cash into account, though nothing beats cash over the counter!!

just saying if there was a cash option would be more coming with me.   Rob has stated this isnt going to happen so record attempt will definitely be at least 3 down on what it could be.


people obviously have their reasons and shouldnt be chastised because of them.

If you are trying to break a record the less obstacles you put in peoples way the more chance you have of breaking that record, end of

Poker players and honest.......................hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

In.

Robs Grand Prix Update

 

Well, the numbers are looking a bit more respectable now at 254 with 15 days to go. We never actually anticipated we’d have this many signed up at this stage, and the registrations per day are getting higher each day. There are players entering from every part of the UK, even as far as Scotland, eyeing the £13,000 winner’s prize, for a modest investment of £50 + £8.

 

I have been asked why we are planning on running a 45 minute clock for a £50 tournament. This is not like a normal £50 tournament. People are playing for a £40,000 prize pool, equivalent to a £500 buy-in event with 80 runners, so I wanted to give as good a structure as possible. This is the first time we’ll be running an event like this, so I’m sure if we decide to repeat it, there will be certain tweaks and changes. Like everything we have done at Dusk Till Dawn, we constantly try and improve things, often by trial and error!

 

We have changed the start time on Friday’s day 1A to 4pm. Some of you wanted to play Friday, but didn’t want to take the whole day off from work. This is hopefully now possible with a slightly later start time. Saturday’s Day 1B, is still set to a 1pm start time, as is Day 2.

 

Usually, when online tournaments are set up this far in advance, they are done so with the chance of small fluctuations in the exchange rate. As the exchange rate has moved 5% since the tournament was set up, we have refunded €4 to all players that bought in at the initial price of €70. The entry fee is now set at €66, to ensure that players are still paying the right amount. We are working with our software providers to offer tournament buy-ins in GB Pounds in the near future, so hopefully any movements in exchange rates will not be a problem if we decide to repeat this type of event in the future.

 

On a final note, we will be announcing our annual £1000 event shortly. We’re aiming for another televised event, which will fall on Friday December 17th – Sunday December 19th. We have a few extra things to finalise beforehand, as this is almost certain to be televised on one of the main terrestrial TV channels, as part of a longer term project that we are working on.

 

Cheers Rob

 

Hi guys, a few people have asked me about my lack of blog updates etc, I have been posting quite a bit on BP threads recently so I didn't think a post on here was necessary. Plus, I have been waiting for our IT people to sort out a proper blog, they have now have written some blogging software on our web site, as well as replying to posts on here, I'll be posting my usual drivel about DTD and poker trips on my blog on our site, as well answering stuff on any threads on BP. Here is the link

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=4

Cheers Rob

Hi Rob,

Hope you're well.

Can you tell us a bit more about your heads up matches. How these came about, who you played (beat and lost) and if you still do these?

Cheers,

Cos

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=4

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=4&id=98

Ive really enjoyed robs blog but it's a shame that it's no longer being hosted here. It loses its ability to be interactive and get feedback and I doubt it will get nearly as many views.

Back on here 1 time?

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=4&id=99

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=4

Rob, can you find out if there is an 'RSS feed' for your blog, or if there is a way of you implementing one? Would like to be able to link to it from my blog...

Rob thanks again for your hospitality at the weekend.

Very much this.

You should be able to find the blog RSS feed at: http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blogrss.php. This includes all official blog posts from Dusk Till Dawn Poker.

Thanks

Chris