blonde poker forum

With Mere on a sabbatical from blonde I offered to run it this year. I've ran one for 10 years with almost exactly the same format for another poker forum with 20-30 entrants each year so hopefully should be straight forward.

Spreadsheet link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mv-0S72AMFwCNMkgMtFlkc0IUfi0Wj0CYhfTdEP7Mqw/edit?usp=sharing

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

The rules are as follows:

1. Entry is open to everyone upon payment of a £25 or £10 entry fee to me. You can send the money via bank or Paypal:
Paypal: longinespoker@hotmail.com
Bank Transfer: 40-47-82 34392884

Please put your alias as the reference on the transfer

Payment must be received by me before midday on Tuesday 14th March. If you are interested, please indicate below or PM me. Each person may enter up to a maximum of two times. Each entry costs £25 or £10.
There will be two pools for this event. One costing £10 and one costing £15. It will not be possible to enter the £15 pool on its own. The same selections will be entered in both pools. The object for this is to try to encourage more people to take part.

2. The competition will be run over the 28 races from Tuesday 14th March to Friday 17th March.

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

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

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

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

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

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



The payout structure will be as follows:

1-10 entrants
1st 100%

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

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

>30 entrants
tba



£10 Pool
PAID
Dewi_cool
4KSuited
PokerBroker
Marky147 x 2
NoCardDSC
RickBFA
Graham C x 2
Karabiner
tikay
NigDawG x 2
T_Mar
TightEnd
Knottikay
KitKeeper
Typhoon
engy
stumpythefish
railtard1
ripple11
Cavey007
aaron1867
Doobs
bagel

£15 Pool
PAID
Dewi_cool
4KSuited
PokerBroker
Marky147 x 2
NoCardDSC
RickBFA
tikay
NigDawG x 2
T_Mar
Knottikay
KitKeeper
Typhoon
engy
stumpythefish
railtard1
ripple11
aaron1867
Doobs
bagel

If you say "In" I'm going to assume that's 1 entry for the £10 and 1 for the £15 - if it's something different, please say. Ta.

That's great news, Grant, thank you very much.

I would urge as many blondes as possible to try & get involved please.

IN

Go on then.

Good of you to run this, thank you.

Will be in for 2 x £10 entries please

2 shots at it, is obviously better than one :)

IN!!

Cheers Grant.

* Awaits Marky*

Almost in time :D

Ha, he beat me to it.

That's about all he will win though.

Managed the first brain fart already - "Reserved for stuff" doesn't work too well now.....

thanks for doing this Grant.

in of course. value for everyone else

In

I have asked the Mods to see if they can do something about that, Grant.

Bear with us, please.

Now that I know Chompy's method, I'm in for 1 x £25

Try again now, Grant.

Sorted, thanks.

If you say "In" I'm going to assume that's 1 entry for the £10 and 1 for the £15 - if it's something different, please say. Ta.

In. 

In

Sent £25 on paypal tx

IN

Thanks for running.

 Is Vince ok? (can someone pm me if not ok to ask/reply on here)

He Tweeted something the other day so I assume he's fine.

In

in for 2x

In please

in please

In

In for £25

in

Grant, can i give you the entry fee in cash at Blackpool on Saturday?

Of course. Same goes for anyone else too.

Sent from Nationwide Account ending 5386.

£25 sent from my bank, Grant.


Cheers

£25 sent

£25 sent by Bank Transfer.

£25 sent by bank transfer

OP updated, all received apart from Mr T, grimmers gotta grim.....  :)

Just sent £20 from my Paypal, not 100% what email it will come from - either silobass at hot mail or my work - graham at somethingorotgher  but it's £20 and I put for 2 x £10 entries

Cheers

Nitting up and just in for the tenner and the craic this time - shipped to bank.

Thanks very much for running this Grant.

Ha, you not got it yet Grant? Bit odd, it's usually immediate.

I used the Bank Account details from a previous Staking return. Have they changed?

EDIT - I just checked, & the cash has deffo left my account.

Ah, that bank account, not the one I put in the OP....

<checks>

Grim over.

sent £50 via paypal

In.

Payment tomorrow.

IN

Sent £25 via PayPal

Shipped

Thanks for finding the time to run this Longines

Tried to do bank transfer not worked?

Strange, I've had 20 payments received just fine, any error messages?

I can take Stars if needed? (Don't mind taking the odd one but don't play enough to offer it more widely)

Worked this time £25 sent thx for running it

In!

Please send bank details, long card number and tree digits from the back of de card!

(https://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/180x200/f/fonejacker_george.jpg)

The details are cunningly hidden in the first post in the following thread, can't be too careful... http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=67463.0

My bad!

Monies sent.

Thanks to Stuart we have our first tips listed on the spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mv-0S72AMFwCNMkgMtFlkc0IUfi0Wj0CYhfTdEP7Mqw/edit#gid=420499386), excitement is building.....

That's very good Grant but I think the selections should remain private until the deadline for entries passes each day.

OK, fair enough, no problem. The other one I run is open viewing and you can make your selections right up until the off apart from the final day but more than happy to carry on Mere's format.

Could I send via stars?  If so, who to?

Am away til Friday and haven't got my bank card reader.  Stupid bank won't let me transfer £25 without it*

If it is a pain, will get someone to transfer.

Cheers

* where is the logic of this?  I can go into MaccyDs die of a heart attack and still buy 30 quids worth of double sausage egg mcmuffins, as long as the grim reaper waves my card somewhere near the reader, but I can't transfer £25 despite entering a password, username and 6 digit code that isn't 123456.  

Ps cheers for running this, much appreciated.

Stars alias: Longines.

Cheers,

Sent  :)

I'd like in on the £10 please. Will send over funds now.

Done via bank transfer. Should be with you soon. Will sort picks tomorrow morning

Sent pics thx

Thanks to everyone for making it easy to admin so far  :)up

If you're in both pools then the 1st prize is currently £348, got to be in it to win it....

PM sent, thanks for running.

in, just sent to bank £25

Bokked horses sent.

PM sent

Top secret selections sent.

In £10 sent

Glad to see I have been put down as paid. Gave my monies to a dodgy looking geezer in Blackpool's casino at the w/end who just said 'leave it with me, I will sort it'. I didnt get a receipt. ;)

I will just find my pin now and work on my selections.

OK, 4 punters haven't sent their picks in time so they are on the SP favourites.

Selections going up online shortly....

Sorry to be difficult but are they on to win or ew?

There is also a problem that betting the SP favourite rather than making a pick would win most of these competitions hence the "random picks" solution previously employed to avoid someone using that as a strategy.

What was that you were saying about the admin earlier...

I'm going to shut up now, honest.

I done well to forget to send for the 3:30  :dontask:

All good points - they're now on randoms.

I pm'd you grant not sure if I messed up selections on last 2 races or you misread post. 

I am working from home and spinning too many plates to finish for the start of racing hoping not too late to change?

https://www.google.co.uk/#safe=strict&q=random+number+from+1+to

All to win.

13:30
6 bagel
9 Marky147 2
14 tikay

14:10
5 bagel
9 Marky147 2
3 tikay

14:50
7 bagel
3 Marky147 2
2 tikay

15:30
3 bagel (EDIT: NR, now on 4)
9 Marky147 2
5 tikay

16:10
12 bagel
7 Marky147 2
4 tikay (EDIT: NR, now on 14)

16:50
17 bagel
18 Marky147 2
14 tikay

17:30
1 bagel
20 Marky147 2
5 tikay

My mistake, fixed now.

Sigh, which idiot said this was easy. Anyway, there is a non-runner in the 4.10 which 2 tipsters had backed. One of them asked to change his selection at 12:55. I was minded to accept this, the race hasn't started yet. However, Mere's rules state that any NRs are replaced by a bet on the favourite, and it's potentially not fair on those that aren't online and can't change their selection. So I'm going to stick with the traditional rules and say no.

Hope that's OK.

After the first race:


Please shout if you spot anything wrong.

After the second:

2 tipsters backing the 9/1 winner of the 3rd makes a difference:

After race 4:

After race 5:

After race 6:

Should definitely have copied Hopkin's tips while they were briefly visible.

Great work Grant.

End of day 1 and the fish has all the chips:


Good luck tomorrow tipsters.

Good work mate. Thank you for updating after every race. Has kept me interested despite having a shocker!

No problem. Can't promise to keep it up for the rest of the week but today was a bit slow so had the time.

With tikay out of action for a few days and unable to choose his horses I'm going to return his entry fee.

Good decision.

I will do today's picks soon. I will also send you Thursday's picks shortly after if that is ok? Off to see them lose live in the morning, so will not get on line.

Sure, no problem. 

A 14/1 winner in the 1st means some big movements on the leaderboards:

(http://i.imgur.com/2wZxslf.jpg)

After race 2, Tighty on a roll with 2 from 2 so far:

(http://i.imgur.com/lRc1k98.jpg)

After race 3, not a lot of movement - of 54 tips in the last two races 50 lost:

(http://i.imgur.com/JOcCTIx.jpg)

After race 6:

There could be a new sheriff in town :)

There could indeed.

End of day 2:

Lots of early selections sent, thanks for that. Some hail marys being thrown already.

Good luck for day 3 tipsters.

Going to be loads more tomorrow :D

Just sent, lots of work stuff on and time ran away, actually  thought i had sent earlier but noticed tab with unsent message still open. 

No problem PB.

Number of picks for the 1st race:

Politiologue   5
Top Notch   5
Disko         5
Yorkhill   4
Flying Angel   4
Balko Des Flos   2
Kilcrea Vale   1
Baily Cloud   1

Not too much agreement in the 2nd:

Rocklander   5
Tobefair   5
Impulsive Star   4
El Bandit   3
Jury Duty   2
Isleofhopendreams   1
Electric Concorde   1
Ballymalin   1
The Tourard Man   1
Sutton Mirror   1
For Good Measure   1
Alzammaar   1
Isle of Dreams   1

Race 3:

Sub Lieutenant   5
Uxizandre   5
Un De Sceaux   5
Empire Of Dirt   5
Josses Hill   3
Vaniteaux   2
Alary   1
Aso   1

A few unique choices in race 4:

Cole Harden   6
Snow Falcon   4
Unowwhatimeanharry   4
Jezki   4
Lil Rockerfella   3
Clondaw Warrior   2
Nichols Crayon   1
Shaneshill   1
Agrapart   1
Ballyoptic   1

Wide open race 5, could see a big move in the leaderboard after this one:

Henryville   3
Thomas Crapper   3
Starchitect   3
Bouvreuil   3
Baron Alco   2
Road To Respect   2
King's Odyssey   2
Sizing Coldeco   1
Diamond King   1
Village Vic   1
Un Ace   1
Cold March   1
Rock Gone   1
Barcon Alco   1
Germany Calling   1
Tango De Juilley   1

Race 6:

Asthuria   5
La Bague Au Roi   4
Airlie Beach   3
Toe The Line   3
Let's Dance   3
Le Bague Au Roi   3
Forge Meadow   2
Verdana Blue   1
Dusky Legend   1
Coillte Lass   1
Groovejet   1

And another wide open race to finish the day:

Another Hero   4
Premier Bond   4
Squouateur   3
Doctor Harper   3
La Vaticane   2
What's Happening   2
Southfield Theatre   1
Hadrian's Approach   1
Pendra   1
Southfield Royale   1
Mall Dini   1
Potters Cross   1
Potters Legend   1
Father Edward   1
Sugar Baron   1

After race 1, Hopkins retakes no.1 spot:

There is only one of me!

Only 2 small winners in the 2nd, kitkeeper and ripple11, so no change to the business end of the leaderboards.

After race 3 Aaron moves into 3rd in the £15 pool:

(http://i.imgur.com/9sMQ5Tn.jpg)

I'm going to drive down to Cheltenham and smack that bloody Ruby Walsh!  The one race he's not won today was the one we backed and he's just pipped me at the post in this!

Bastard

Race 4, the Marks make their move:

(http://i.imgur.com/TI7J4Y1.jpg)

https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/841320680754929664

 ;)

:D

Very good :D 

Quite shocking hate from some people, I'd be gutted if people tweeted me like that. 

17th to 2nd in one easy move:

(http://i.imgur.com/TcPBMfn.jpg)

Need a shake up for tomorrow, desperate tactics incoming!

Mother f..... Top weight too much for Pendra to drag up the hill and loose horse probably helped the winner. Would of probably put me too 3 :(

End of Day 3

Not a great day for deep returns, a collective virtual £1k won after £1.2k and £1.5k on Tues and Weds. Mr singular Hopkin still holds the lead but it is very tight in the rest of the top 10. Ping a 40/1 winner tomorrow or a couple of 18/1 and anyone could still win.

Would have been top on £320. If only....

Yuk, forgot to put EW on my last three selections, wooden spoon fast approaching :)

Day 4, good luck all.

Race picks

Race 1
Landofhopeandglory   7
Charli Parcs   6
Coeur De Lion   2
Dinaria Des Obeaux   2
Defi Du Soilel   2
Master Blueeyes   2
Dandy Mag   1
Magie Du Ma   1
Landin   1
Mega Fortune   1
I See You Well   1
Ex Patriot   1


Race 2
Vosnee Romanee   3
Ivanovich Gorbatov   3
Tell Us More   3
Air Horse One   3
Winter Escape   2
Arctic Fire   2
Wait For Me   2
North Hill Harvey   2
Dominada   2
Court Minstrel   1
Jaleo   1
Joey Sosa   1
Wakea   1
Moyhaaded   1



Race 3
Wholestone   7
The Worlds End   7
Constantine Bay   4
Augusta Kate   2
Monalee   2
Penhill   1
Death Duty   1
Ami Desbois   1
Baden   1
Elegant Escape   1



Race 4
Outlander   7
Cue Card   5
More Of That   4
Minnella Rocco   3
Native River   3
Bristol De Mai   2
Smad Place   1
Sizing John   1
Teafortwo   1



Race 5
Paint The Clouds   6
Ask The Weatherman   6
Sweet As A Nut   3
Aupcharlie   2
Buckers Bridge   2
On The Fringe   2
Grand Vision   1
Minella For Value   1
Grand Jesture   1
Black Thunder   1
Wonderful Charm   1
Pacha Du Polder   1



Race 6
Rather Be   5
Lac Fontana   3
Coo Star Sivola   2
I Shot The Sheriff   2
Tommy Silver   2
Tagliatelle   2
Dadsintrouble   2
Doesyourdogbite   2
Champagne Classic   1
Battleford   1
No Comment   1
Thomas Campbell   1
Runfordave   1
Gibralfaro   1
Protek Des Flos   1



Race 7
Le Prezien   4
Dodging Bullets   3
Upsilon Bleu   2
Dandridge   2
Rock The World   2
Solar Impulse   2
Theinval   2
The Game Changer   2
Mr Fiftyone   1
Solita   1
Eastlake   1
Gardefort   1
Calipto   1
Velvetmaker   1
Bold Henry   1
Quite By Chance   1

Winners gonna win - after race 1:

(http://i.imgur.com/UULcUAU.jpg)

Ooooh 2 on arctic fire.  2 at the bottom e/w pls.

Race 2 - a big winner and 2 big movers:

(http://i.imgur.com/YYceAmX.jpg)

I seem to have seconditis today - that's two at decent prices so far :( - knocking at the door though..

Driving home after a week away, have pulled over into a layby and trying to update whilst tethering....

#saveblonde

Do it when you get home, Grant.

#makeblondesweat

Will save you checking

Cue Card won the Gold Cup at 33/1 followed by Wonderful Charm at 50/1 in the foxhunters. 

Nice double that.

After race 5 - this is going down to the wire:

(http://i.imgur.com/SHrFdsp.jpg)

Sat Nav says 17:34, time for the whip.

So i just need dodging bullets to win and I'm sorted. Excellent.

Been fairly solid through the week few "wins" each day until today :(

Traffic Report

The M69 approaching Leicester is very heavy (who'd have guessed, I'm never normally home until at least 9) so....

from a laybay on the A5 :)

The Wycher managed to pick up £16 in the penultimate race to just overtake T_Mar.

Good luck all in the last.

(http://i.imgur.com/W6XNyFg.jpg)

2 on Rock the world... Winner of the last at 10/1...

Subject to final checks later the results are here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mv-0S72AMFwCNMkgMtFlkc0IUfi0Wj0CYhfTdEP7Mqw/edit#gid=23683200)

Thanks very much for running this grant, great job.

Well done all of the winners - money goes to money as per usual ;)

Most of all thanks to Grant for all of the hard work and reminding us what is so good about blonde.


Masters Golf Competition anyone?

Thanks for running Grant...well done all the winners.

Final tables.

Can the winners PM their bank/paypal details please.

(http://i.imgur.com/rxRTOzl.jpg)

Top man - Cheers

Just send buyin and get  a beer with change 👍

Well done winners

Congrats to the winners! I had to work over Chelts this year which severely hampered my punting efforts but great to see so many involved in this.

Well played guys, and thanks for running this Grant.

Superb fun, all week, and great added entertainment.

Thanks for running this Grant.   

Well done the winners

Thanks for finding the time to run this Grant

Well done winners

Mere is a real tough act to follow, but you did a grand job here Grant, and if Mere was following it (& he may well have been), I suspect you would get his seal of approval.

Well done, & thank you very much.

My only complaint would be that you need to be more serious with the results.

Bopkin & Marky 1st & 2nd? THE Bopkin & Marky?

Come on, nobody is gonna buy that. Did they give you a bung?

Thanks for running this Grant

And special thanks to Ralph for the nudge to take part!

Picked the right week of the year to heater.

I'm in some house this week, too... 4 of us out here, and I'm the smallest ice-cream of the lot :D

Thanks all, glad to help. Money has been sent to Stuart, Marky, T_Mar and tikay. Just waiting on The Wycher.

I ran the same comp on another forum as well - and Marky somehow managed to land 2nd place there as well  ;) Across the two comps there were 60+ entries, that was a lot of PMs and apart from one small tiff in the other Next Door everything ran smoothly thanks to the tipsters.

The winners across both forums have been incredibly generous, asking me to take a drink and donating winnings to charity. My liver has had enough damage lately so thought I'd combine the two instead:

Nice!

Thanks for running the comp.  It was a shame to hear that it might not run this year so thank you for stepping in, it's always good fun to enter.

Congratulations to the winners, here's to Ascot!

That's really lovely to see.

Thanks for stepping in and running it Grant.....and two forums!...even Mere might have struggled.  :)

 Thanks for running this apologies for not being on sooner but was doing family stuff all weekend.

Will pm bank details but just send £10 back and donate/drink the rest as appropriate.

The Wycher

Nice touch, thanks again. :)up

Thanks Wycher, money sent and I've given the balance to BHF again.