blonde poker forum

Afternoon all. Been lurking for a couple of days, but thought I'd say hi.

I haven't played in YEARS, but recently felt the urge to dip my toes back in to the game. Pleased to see Blonde Poker is still a thing.

Been grinding a few Single/Multi SnGs on Stars and then played a two Thursday night Freezeouts at Dusk Till Dawn to get my eye back in (bubbled my first, finalled my second).

Next outing will be the upcoming Grand Prix, so if anyone's around for the Day 1B flight on the Friday, and remembers my face, feel free to say hi.

Good luck at the Grand Prix! Trip report would be good.

Be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the live game/experience has changed since you last played.

Good to hear from you Adam.

Yeah, I can do that.

Last time I "came out of retirement" a couple of years ago, I felt really out of sync with the game in so many ways. This time has felt different. Almost like the game had taken a step back a decade and was quite 'Harrington' style. I appreciate I'm only playing at £50 freezeout level, and it's only a couple of tournaments so far, but I found a pretty ABC, play in position, change gears in relation to stack/BB ration strategy worked a treat. Last week I felt like I cruised to the final table even though I was virtually card dead. I just made a few moves at the right time and flipped well in a couple of spots where I needed to. If the experience so far turns out to be typical, I'm looking forward to playing in these tournaments when I hit a few cards as well.

It always amuses me to see the same behaviours/attitudes and hear the same conversations, just with different faces. New ex-dealers making their way as players, new young players taking themselves very seriously with the shades and headphones, new grinders trying to carve out a living from the game, and even new 'old-schoolers' splashing around and playing in that pre-boom style (you know what I'm talking about). Also nice to see some old faces that I've known as far back as the Nottingham Gala days. I'm sure to most of the current regulars, I'll look like a new face in the building. I used to be a new kid, now I'm an old timer. How did that happen? :)

I've always done pretty well in GPs, and used to cash more often than not. Would be great to get out of the blocks with a good run next week. Hope to be posting from the Final Table.

Oh, also, I really wasn't a fan of this super-ante thing DTD have got going (is it common across the industry?). Sure, the board says 250/500 with 500 ante, but it's 250/1000 blinds in all but name. Just felt really weird to have this bloated BB spot.

However, I've adapted my play to it and it's not ruining the game for me. Still, very odd development.

Hi Adam,

Good to see you back.

Are you still with Bell-Fruit, or whatever they are called?

Do you remember that night at Gala Notts when you got mugged as you left the casino?

You still into MMA? It's still way too violent for me, but I have become a bit of a T J Dillashaw fanboy, or at least, i had before he popped for EPO.



(Apologies if I have mixed you up with someone else, the memory is getting a bit unreliable).

Hi Tikay
Not still with Bell-Fruit, but still in the industry. I'm now Head of UK Compliance for a multinational gaming company. I've come a long way since joining the industry as a pub fruit machine tester in 2006.

I certainly do remember getting mugged outside Gala. Would have been around Feb/Mar 2003. I'd been doing martial arts on and off since 1994 and it was as much use as a chocolate tea pot when jumped by 3 lads in an alley with a knife. Bit of a game changer for me and got seriously into Real Life Self Protection stuff for the remainder of my martial arts journey. Finally packed all that in about a 2009/10. Don't miss it one bit, but glad I did it too.

Still watch MMA, although not as obsessively as I have in the past. Got into NFL about 5/6 years ago and and that's my main sport of choice for half the year. Go Jags!!!

Still happily married to Sara and the kids are growing up fast; 14 and 19. Been a rocky road with them health wise, but all good now. That was one of the main reason for stopping playing. Family comes first and all that.

Still active as a gigging musician, but it's not full rock bands any more. I spend my time providing acoustic accompaniment for a very talented female vocalist (www.facebook.com/songbirdami if anyone's interested).

Been a very long time since my path first crossed yours and Thewy's in the Nottingham Gala. Feels like a very different world, and poker is a VERY different game from then, and even more so from the boom years in between. Looking forward to playing a bit more, but it'll only ever be a hobby for me now. Any ambition of making a living from the game got washed out of the system a long tome ago.

Head of UK Compliance for a multinational gaming outfit?

Wow, what a role that is these days.

It's a topic that's hard to discuss on blonde as a) it's infinitely boring to most & b) I'm still with SB&G so I can't talk too much out of school.

It's an extraordinary thing these days in Gaming, Compliance. In business, all sorts of things go off, but there's one Team who rule the roost in any well-run Gaming Business these days & that's Compliance. What Compliance say, goes, no arguments, no question. It's amazing how many things it affects, & what a Gaming Business can or can not say or do now. And as you will know, the GC are doling out monster fines for those who fail, especially in areas like KYC & AML. 

This week is a big week, too, with the GC Verification deadline.

Fascinating to some, but I guess boring to most.

Anyway, you are clearly doing well, that's a serious job you have, well done. 

Glad to hear the kids are well now too. Can't believe they are both teenagers. Blimey.

Oh yes, Compliance is a job for life. Suits a certain personality type I think.

Yes, considering I think I had one 2 year old when we first met, the kids' age demonstrate well how much water has passed under the bridge.

I was interested. WP, as they say.

I seem to remember your boy getting into guitar when he was young. Did he keep it up?

Been interesting to watch this from the punters side of the fence. My experience so far:

Run it Once sent an email about four weeks ago asking for ID to be provided. Follow ups sent and a 'you're now restricted' email received this week.

Unibet sent an email this week asking for ID regarding an old Stan James account.

And that's it. Nothing so far from Stars, Party, Ladbrokes, bet365, Grosvenor where I have accounts of varying degrees of dormancy.

That's right, he got his first electric guitar aged 8, and I seem to remember posting some videos on here of his early progress, playing along to some AC/DC. Unfortunately, it was soon after that my daughter's health became the main focus of the family for a few years and Joe's tuition took a back seat. However, very happy to say that since we got Charlotte back in a good space, I've been able to help Joe get back on track. He's a budding rock star in the making, with a growing collection of his own guitars, plus access to my (un)healthy collection. School is tough for Joe, for complex reasons I won't go into here, but playing guitar is his outlet. We've even managed to negotiate a slightly adapted timetable for him where he can spend some time playing his guitar in the music room, rather than sitting in some of the classes he has no interest in. His plan in a couple of years is a modern music performance course at college, then on to stardom. Every gig I take him to enthuses him more. In the last few years I've stood him in front of the likes of Guns N Roses/Slash (3 times including Download last year), Iron Maiden, Extreme (twice), Metallica, and this year he has Ugly Kid Joe, Sacred Reich, Gojira to look forward to.

He's going to be the rock star I wanted to be, before I gave it all up for my dream job in compliance :)

Sorry to hear about your daughter's illness, but glad to know that that it's coming good now.

Also pleased that Joe is still into his music. Go Joe!

You should post another vid sometime.

All in all, it seems like you have a lot of reasons to be proud of yourself.

Guns N Roses?

If both of you are into that sort of thing, one of the best "Rockumentaries" I've ever seen is Duff McKagan's "It's So Easy (And Other Lies)" which is shown from time to time on Sky Arts or BBC Four, I forget which.  It's a lengthy view, best part of 2 hours, but a thoroughly good watch, as it tells the warts & all story of a rock star as he plumbed the depths of alcohol & drug addiction, then sorted himself out.

Thanks. I/we are in a very good space now after an extremely challenging decade or so. Been through the ringer with schools, hospitals, mental health services, etc. Still facing challenges, but I'm battle hardened and ahead of the curve.

Thanks, will definitely check that out.

I'll watch that. I love survival stories, and they aren't all about being lost in the desert.

Here you go Adam, the You Tube version, only marginally spoilt by Spanish (?) sub-titles, but the soundtrack is in English.  The whole thing is backed by a live band comprising some of his Velvet Revolver mates with live versions of some of the GNR anthems.

Some of the language is a bit earthy, but I'm sure you can cope with that. It's not for old farts like Red or nirvana though.

Watch the first 5 minutes & you'll be hooked.  



YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCV3OzmF_sQ

Ha. See the Link above.

It's amazing really. From deep, deep in the hole, & close to death, & as irresponsible as any man can be, he's now a doting Dad of two beautiful daughters, a wife he loves to bits, & he does sensible things like long distance cycling, martial arts, & has a business where he advises rock stars & celebs how to look after their money.  

He's now just like a regular guy, got a dog & everything.

Bloody lovely story.


 (http://i.imgur.com/pqlO34r.jpg) (https://imgur.com/pqlO34r)

Great that someone has started a new diary, because Tikay's is crap :D

Glad to see all is well, and that your venture back into poker has been fruitful so far.

Look forward to following, and hopefully seeing you've binked!

I got an email from Party a couple of weeks ago (never play on there) just logged in and won't let me until I upload some photographic ID. I'm guessing your party acct will be the same, as it will be across the board.

Its not every account, but those accounts requiring verification will need to upload the KYC photographic verification

GC requirement

If you haven't had an email, proceed as normal

I've stopped grinding the slots now, but they were getting to be a nightmare even a year ago.

Understandable, given all the aggro they get themselves into letting randoms punt on other people's cards, lol.

Correct. Logged in last week with no issues, just tried again and photo ID is required.

Glad to hear that things are going well for you and the family Adam.

Saves me having to watch it anyway.

Probs more chance of seeing a Vegas staking post than in Tikays too   ;D ;D ;D ;

Hadn't really intended on it being a diary :)
Just saying hello as it's been a while since I posted and I got spotted lurking.
See how it goes I guess.

Cheers Ralph

Starting to remember why I left Blonde now.

The same few people arguing, slinging insults and being generally very unpleasant to each other. It starts in the Politics thread, but they follow each other on to other threads and continue the mud slinging throughout the forum.

In the early days there was a zero tolerance on trolling, aggression and rudeness of any kind. I received a few (perfectly justifiable) short bans myself for losing my temper and over stepping the mark, but for comments and behaviour that's a mile short of the tone of discourse I read on the forum today. There was a real family/community feel that just isn't here any more. It's a real shame, because it was a really nice place to hang out back in the day.

It's like a reflection of the world Adam, the majority of people are wonderful warm human beings, but a few are argumentative and entitled, unfortunately those are the ones who make the most noise.

For clarity, here I don't mean the debaters, I mean the outright arguers and name-callers.

The trick is to enjoy the good stuff and ignore the bad, but it's a difficult skill to master and I fail more often than I would like.

There are people on here who have got it sussed though so it can be done.

Ommmmmmm.........

If you were interested in that, you may be interested in this;
https://www.facebook.com/abitontheside/videos/451030489011223/

and also this;
https://www.facebook.com/abitontheside/videos/1083375705190791/

one of two new singers I'm working with. Feel free to give the page a like to see more from them in the near future :)