blonde poker forum

I still play, does anyone else?

I long ago accepted that poker needed to be of minor importance to me. There had been a time when it was in danger of subsume go everything else, a time that happened to coincide with my best results, but after the glories of 2012 I came back down to earth and now I’m as happy to play in a £40 local game with 50 or so runners as I am to play a 25/25. My desire to throw £1100 at a poker tournament has gone, and although I do still play some lower level online satellites I really cba to devote the time to them. Especially since the easiest tickets to win would be for events at a venue that I won’t/can’t visit.
I’m not likely to be able to get much in the way of staking either these days 😁


So, is anyone else still inclined to turn out for a poor value local game where the RegFee could be as high as 20% of the buyin just for the craic and the possible bragging rights?

Prob play online < 5x a year, unfortunately for online players.

Play a couple times a year in the UK, and throw a few quid at Vegas in the summer. I wouldn't even call myself a casual player now, just a random punter ;D

Local cash only for me at weekends when the games are still soft enough to have a good laugh with the regs and win a few quid.  No banter in a live game now and i just leave no matter how profitable it is.  Dabbled on sky poker now and again late at night once the evening dogs have finished to relax and won a few quid over the last year or so but not totally convinced if you are a 1% sports punter on skybet they 'flick the switch' to make sure you don't win too much on poker.   Sounds crazy but given how soft the site is my mtt graph shouldn't look how it does shape wise.   First big win mtt wise alarms bells go off at HQ, 1% sports betting account viewed and you suddenly break even for the next 9 months in games that are impossible to break even in against the lolregs.  Going to let the dust settle and try my theory on a 100% clean skybet/poker account previously unused and see if the account runs closer to ev than the previous one did. 

I don't play much these days. I can't will online, the kidz are just too good and too well equipped.

I still enjoy live poker but I don't seem to have the stamina for it.

I can't do the stuff I want to during the day and then stay awake and alert into the wee small hours. Christ knows how Tony does it.

I still play quite a bit, but most of my peers from the old days don't anymore.

I moved over to O8 to try and keep on top, but had an expensive learning curve in it.  I still play hold'em on the side, but wouldn't be happy playing solely hold'em.

I haven't played a WCOOP in years, but played a medium one last night and finished about 25/55 for day 2.  I think I am just above average, but might be just below (age and 3am finishes/7am starts aren't a good mix for remembering stuff. 

I do toy with going more part time, but am doing as well as any time in the last 5 years right now.  I had a really good year in 2012, but running good and Winnamax made me think I was better than I was and 2013 found me out.  Since then, I have been a smidge above break even, where smidge may well be just variance each year.  I am not sure I am going Vegas next year; I need a proper job for a bit to save up for the 10k plo8.

For Arbboy, I have run really well on Sky over the years, so it isn't anything to do with the 1% account.   I ran dreadful on party poker in their O8 tournaments (my old name has a fishbowl), but the luck has well and truly reversed since the name change. 

I have been threatening to play a £100/300 two dayer with a nice structure if I can find one. Hopefully a freezeout but I won't hold my breath for that.

Preferably it would be something with an early afternoon start so that I can play whilst I'm still compos mentis. Then if I make day two I can sleep in my camper and hope that the shock of still having chips will produce enough adrenalin to keep me going.

I was going to play the Goliath at Coventry but it clashed with Poland.

 

Live poker has too many negatives for me these days, mainly late nights but also uncomfortable chairs and soap-dodgers.

I keep saying that I might pop down for a bit of cash and possibly collect a few old debts at Aria - maybe this winter..

Agree Red with start/finish times nowadays  :)

I played the 25/25 2 dayer at Reading at the weekend...a nice 1pm start time Sat and Sun.

Think I've played live about 4 times this year in local comps. What used to be a massive enjoyment for me has turned into a slog, no patience for it and 9/10 when I'm thinking of going I get comfortable at home by around 6.30pm and can't be bothered. Somewhat connected with the fact that when I go it's not the same people from 10 years ago and also stopped winning - was quite surprised how quickly the allure tailed off when I wasn't winning.

Fridays and occasionally other days I get more enjoyment from playing a few micro stakes PLO8, Courchevel, 8 game tournies rather than slog off to the casino

Marc?! Marc?!

You are shrewd enough that Shirley you don’t believe this is the case?! MTT variance is insane and hard even for pro punters to fully comprehend...but it is what it is.

This.

I was very surprised at your post Arb.

(http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/239/110/8a8.gif)

:)

Superb troll or most stupid post in a while.

Either way I enjoyed it thanks

I play a lot of poker, relative to the available time that I have. I play live, almost exclusively. It gets me out of the house. I'm in to a fourth year of trying to reach terms of a divorce settlement, and since I'm forced to share the same roof with my near-ex-Mrs, playing poker live is my escape. Our children are adults now, and supportive of the divorce, and take priority over any poker tournaments I might have had my eye on. Otherwise, I happily drive the 35 miles to one of the two Luton casinos. I have no interest in dating, let alone getting involved with all the internet dating sites/apps - but I certainly plan to get out there again once I'm 'free'. In the meantime, poker is where I get my jollies; I still love the game.

I've kept assiduous records of my poker activities for the last 5 years, and I have achieved a profit (albeit < 10% ROI) for each calendar year. In recognition of my bankroll, when I do occasionally play cash, I only play 1/1 or 1/2 NLH, and I'm usually in profit at year end.

I love a two day £150-£250 (when I play higher it's usually with a ticket or with 40% sold) event with a 40m clock, but work commitments limit my opportunities. However, since I live west of London I also have Reading, The Vic and Hippodrome as options. I work for BA, so in view of my personal circumstances I've found myself in Vegas every year for the last few years too. Over time, I've made greater efforts to explore more of the off-strip casinos, bars & restaurants rather than going solely for the poker & I've enjoyed my trips more as a result.

I like to think of myself as an above average NLH tournament player, and I am constantly making adjustments to my game in order to try to stay ahead of the curve, but at the same time I recognise that there are weaknesses in my game that I'd like to address - possibly with some coaching.

To claim a site is rigged is just a form of pascal's wager.  There must be a very small chance that it is rigged and, if it is, tikay will know that he has been rumbled and turn off the doom switch.  ;D

I'm probably going to go off tangent here, but I am also interested in peoples opinions on this or if they feel the same.

I've never been one to play online, but used to be a now and then regular face at the local for the weekly £8k/£10k game. I haven't played for that long now, probably been 2 years ish and I think the bigger game is actually on a Thursday, not a Friday now.

I kinda lost interest in the game for so many reasons. But not for the game itself. Instead got highly frustrated with the type of people who I was sharing the table with. You would sit down on a table and you'd be guaranteed to end up on the table with someone you really didn't like. These wasn't reasons of having a general dislike for someone because of something trivial, but just because of their morals as a human being. It probably sounds really really sad and after all, you're here to play the game.......

But every other week when I turned up I'd be sat next to some really questionable people. Guys that owe you money from recently or far back, but still can't be arsed to pay you back. Guys that owe everyone else money. Sat next to guys with drug, grooming, fraud and rape charges. Then you're next to that guy who is forever sharing hateful posts about muslims. I just got fed up of the sharing a room, table and off course sitting next to them. There was even a time I had to exit the tournament early as there was a guy who I am not supposed to have contact with (he doesn't know me) because of work, so had to exit in case we both final tabled & my name would show on that list and it would probably trigger him.

But I don't play that much - Mainly because of the people & the card room I used to frequent seems to attract people I don't want to be seen with. I'd just rather not play, than to sit next to the kid who conned his nan out £20k, etc.

That's not to mention the absolute turnips that take forever to make a decision as they're happy not taking notice o the game, tank folding every day or playing online at the same time. I don't think there's much of a market for live poker no more anyway. 

Maybe its just me - but wouldn't be surprised if others did the same too

All of the above really
Esp Glens get comfy by 630 pm
I may play a couple of $100 buy ins in Vegas next week /12 days
Really cba with cash - too many knobheads
Still watch most live streams though
Miss the monthly Dtd deepstack updates from rich - they were v good
I enjoy the odd trip away - talinn done and got Malta to look forward to this year
I used to be out 5/7 nights somewhere years ago
Online in daytime and the other 2 nights

Happy with a glass of wine 🍷 n feet up now

Actually this and 4ks post resonate with me - I played a ton when I was separated as I could walk into the poker room and feel a bit like Norm in Cheers which was very helpful at the time and, fancifully, I thought I was a bit of a contender too.

Now I walk into the poker room and I feel a bit like Aaron does - with many, many honourable exceptions of course.

I tried to pick it back up again. That's why I came back here. Unfortunately there's just not the time in my life to do more than dip my toes in.

Combination of much more demanding/stressful job, bigger house/garden with more effort needed, and I'm gigging a lot at the minute, playing guitar for three different singers, so I'm out most weekends with that. When I have free time separate from all of that, I'm spending it with MrsM.

I'd love to get to DTD once or twice a month for a tournament, but I struggle to find the time.

I have some sympathy for Aaron’s position. But the day I let the dregs stop me doing something I enjoy is a long way off.
There are still enough people around the game that  are good to chat with and have some banter to make avoiding the others possible.

I am part of a group that holds an annual charity game in Teesside. It attracts people from Essex and beyond and involves a significant amount of alcohol consumption.  With the only prizes being donated we raised c£2,000 this year. Modesty forbids that I mention who this year’s winner was.
Most of the players are APAT members and their social spirit reflects well on the longevity of APAT brand.

I barely play these days. Don't have the time for tournaments and forays into online cash have been met with MMT nits on Stars (although I hear rules have changed to stop this) and a general lack of skill.

Play a once a month live tourney with some locals (BCPC) now I've moved to the Midlands which is always fun.

Would love to pick the game back up properly. If I do it will probably be live cash as that seems to be the way to go.

Agreed. It's a pity though that APAT appears to have fallen by the wayside, albeit through no fault of their own. Apart from the Team Championships/Worlds, it's just another tournament these days in a packed schedule.

I disagree. APAT still offers a better tournament at the price point than anything else out there.
Plus, where else is there that will run the multitude of games that APAT offers at their Workd Championship?

Irrespective of the above there are still some great people out there that tend only to be met at an APAT event.

I did say apart from the Worlds :)

I was looking forward to getting back into APATs this year now I finally have the opportunity to, but there hasn't been any events in the UK to do so. I noticed that they recently announced an event in Brighton, but seems like it was very last minute. I'm assuming this is related to their previous tie-in with Grosvenor.

And yes, some of the best people I ever met in poker has been through APAT. Bring on the team champs next year.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=62388.0

Haven't played live for probs 2 years. Not been to Vegas in 4 years, Son's at an age where we go to Florida instead.
Really cant be arsed to spend time travelling in UK to attend events that are usually poorly run and are expensive in terms of buyins drinks etc.
Not played online in years, games are mostly dead and sites like party go down so often it's not worth my time. In addition, anyone who thinks games online are straight are, at best, naive

Game is in a right mess. Greedy casinos doing whatever they can to squeeze short term profit out of a market that's shrinking is never going to end well. G have laid off a bunch of staff, resorts is going strong but there have been other Gentings closed to cover it, DTD is now closed Monday/Tuesday. Reg fees are getting higher, some places are attempting to force people to play higher stakes, overall standards especially on food have dropped humongously since I started playing seriously around eight years ago. Online is a state, stars are as greedy as ever, party have given up any chance of challenging their monopoly, every other week there seems to be some new scandal. Everywhere else I've looked at pools seem to be shrinking and I can't think of the last time I heard properly good news from any site. Maybe I'm just turning into a cynical old man, and I think live poker will go cycle back round after a while longer of decline. But I can't see online poker recovering. I can't see America coming back to the global market, increasingly the good games are moving to more and more dodgy sites.

I still play, I still do ok, I still love the game, but as far as online goes I'm not optimistic for the future.

party is definitely not giving up the challenge Matt. $500k promotion every month, $20M GTD MILLIONS Online in December, global live tour leader, huge investments in software etc. Masses and masses of value for players.

Grew 15% last resultd in a static to falling market, was growing 40% in the early stages of the recovery.

Enlightened spam, over.

party is one place to avoid.

the HU lobbies are widely known to be locked down by bots -  players that after having to submit live videos of them playing on stars could only one-two table regs on stars are playing multiple tables on party against anyone whose solver is good enough to hang with them.

they also plan to /  have already removed the option of downloading HH's from players. pretty much every cheating / collusion scandal detected by players has been by players analysing databases and weeding out the rotten players. self policing by people with the means and incentive to discover cheating is the biggest weapon against that behavior.

party, a bot ridden site that has infamously poor detection methods, now removes the ability of players to detect cheating.

also scrapers for party will be available for those that want to go against the rules[ and we know they fail to detect cheating] so anyone playing a fair game will be doubly punished by groups of players who will still have access to HH's, but absolutely no incentive to use them in any other way than against other players.

avoid.

Bot detection resources have been beefed up substantially and many accounts closed and funds returned to those they played against. I can give you contact details of the team involved if you would like to speak to them for more details

The fair play initiative to ban HUDs and level the playing field for recreational players is connected

It makes the site substantially less safe and makes a new level of unfairness between fair players and those that cheat.

Also all anyone can do is to take party's word on detection as the player pool has zero way of detecting bots and collusion.

Again, even on stars where detection is first rate the players have done a substantial amount of policing.

It's simply a site I wouldnt touch, sorry

People talk about cheating in online poker, but its also thing in live poker too. Another reason I have pretty much given up playing cards now.

There are cliques out there, mostly, in fact pretty much all, are groups of young lads. Found out lately they speak to each other and give signals to each other in many different ways. The latest is they text each other, without the player in the hand looking at his phone, but knowing that's a signal to call.

But also I am pretty critical of people here - There are still plenty of decent and funny folk you're happy to play cards with. Not everyone is out there to go through your pockets, etc. 

Casually dropping in the intention to Multi Account on a poker site Tikay works for, ballsy/moronic move just like most of this post.

Agree with Teddyboat, haven't touched party since they made the cash game changes.

How did it come about that the owner of DTD is the voice of PartlyPoket? Some of the recent ‘innovations’ are re-runs of stuff that was attempted before on the now defunct DTD online offering.

DTD partnerred with partypoker in 2016 or 17 when they decided to move away from their previous platform (Ipoker then cryptologic or the other way round)

GVC then did a deal with Rob where he became poker consultant in a deal through to 2021 i believe, so he is heavily involved in the development and current growth of the business

For the sake of open-ness I was recently appointed Head of Content at partypoker having previously worked at partypokerlive at Nottingham.

Hence my reply here

Where did i say anything about multi accounting?   Once i start using a new account obviously i won't be playing on the old one otherwise it defeats the object of trying an unrestricted skybet account to play poker on. 

Could be wrong, but not sure you can open a new account to play on, because you think yours is rigged.

Rigged accounts ? You will be telling me next, that those lads that all play poker in the same room look at each others screens next.

The recently departed CEO of skybet told a fellow blonde poster in person when he met Flint that he thought nobody has more than one skybet account and the millions of accounts they keep opening are all from new original customers.   He was truly shocked when he got told that hundreds of previously closed pro punters probably have been through 3 figures of 'new' skybet accounts in various different names.   Not entirely sure what the difference is between having someone put on for me on their skybet account or me playing poker on their account.   I haven't done this lightly.  It isn't even a huge amount of money and i am still winning since the account opened.  i have collected a substantially amount of data (manually obviously) over the past 9 months to back up my 'comedy' claims and i wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't pretty conclusive and damning the results of the data.

Playing 20-100 runner low stakes bounty hunter 'mtts' (they are more like stts) against sky's client base at that level it is literally impossible to break even over the sample size i have in the past 10 months.   Low stakes bounty hunter 'stts' have tiny variance compared to huge field mtts.     I am not the only 1% account to have similar views/thoughts on this either and several other people i know changed to a clean account.

As other posters have said anyone that trusts any form of online poker and just throws out any claims is being naive given the amount of scandals that have been involved in online poker.   There are 'teams' of people playing skypoker cash games and chopping up profits/sharing hand info on whats app.   I know this for a fact because i have sat in the same room watching them.  They are skilled at making it look as discrete as possible but the level of bum hunting at the bigger skypoker cash games is truly comedy to watch.  This is no different to any other poker site.  When people say online 'poker' is bent it can mean numerous different ways the deck is stacked against you and IMO in 2019 given the distain poker sites hold for winning players with stars abuse of their old VIP scheme nothing should be readily discounted as impossible.

I would have zero problem never playing online poker again but once or twice a week i do enjoy it late at night to relax and tiny stakes but even then i am not stupid enough to know when i am having my pants taken down.   I have been in the game long enough (both sides of the fence) to smell a rat and when something isn't right, then conduct manual research myself to back my initial views up.   I might be wrong and it might just be a freak one off but there is no harm in trying something diifferent just like skybet like to try something different (ie close accounts) when they smell a rat and think something is wrong.

Don't forget ten years ago i was swimming against the tide against the 'solid' one.

Tikay could this be Clock123 ? 😂😂

It is a bit rich that you are pointing fingers whilst restarting on a poker site under a fresh name.   

If you are still around Sheffield, there is a nice early cash game on Monday's starting at 7pm at Nap's Owlerton. They will throw in a free meal from the restaurant. Usually a couple of players wanting to donate. Means I can be away by midnight and get some sleep.

Mon/Tues/Wed starting around 11pm there are two decent sized 5/5/10 games if you have deep pockets and are willing to stay until 5am.

Yeah I'm still in Sheffield, will look into this, thank you

Probably come out on a Thursday soon, only knew it changed to Thursday from Wed last week!

Tom Jones organised and runs the early game for Kaz.

Message him on Facebook if you want a seat.

Yep, Genting £8k is on a Thursday now. Play it occasionally these days.

Pretty rare to play online now, and only for a punt on a massive field Sunday event usually.

Live i’ll occasionally make a Reading/Luton £100-200 event but don’t enjoy it as much as I used to. Only time I really put some hours in is when I happen to be in the states with work and play live cash. Vegas plus a couple of random local casinos that have friendly games.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-fxt4C8Gc8

Should be interesting.

Couldn't get past the presenter's first 5 minutes of verbal diarrhoea with the occasional swear word to prove he's a grown up.

Was Rob ever allowed to speak? If so I'm sure what he said was very interesting.

the podcast was 2 hours long. did you watch that or just the jokey tease linked above?

here

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-fxt4C8Gc8

It was a jokey comment aimed at the jokey link which is actually the same link to the two hour podcast Rich.

I probably wouldn't watch a two hour poker podcast but the truth is I didn't manage to get to the part where rob speaks for the reasons stated.

I didn't mean to cause offence, and I'd forgotten your involvement otherwise I would have shown a little more tact.

Rob's first comments from 2.26

My apologies. Apparently I couldn't get past the first two minutes and twenty six seconds. (It seemed much longer).

For proof that poker isn't dead, in the $200 WCOOP plo8 last week, somebody 4 bet and called 2 all ins with four jacks at my table last week.   

FWIW He scooped with a pair of jacks.  Really.

Good grief.

Definitely worth watching, Red. Very good podcast, imo.


Superb :D

I thought this may be saved somewhere given who was on my left.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TimothyHarold88/status/1172651802094755842 (https://mobile.twitter.com/TimothyHarold88/status/1172651802094755842)

Having Bengt Sonnert on my left is not fun.   Mr Creative is on his left and has consistently reached showdown with a bag of bollocks down.  I had folded to a few 4 bets at this point, and I thought I can't be in terrible shape here with 6432 double suited.  :|

Hand   Equity   Scoops   Wins Hi   Ties Hi   Wins Lo   Ties Lo
6h4c3c2h   44.43%   169,882   298,005   0   223,186   5,670
JsJdJcJh   11.59%   61,927   90,647   0   0   0
As8s2skc   43.98%   162,316   269,356   0   181,096   5,670

Yikes, he had plenty of chips too.

Oh for a heart on the turn or river.  

I don't speak Swedish, but still know what he was saying

Amazing :D

I won my second Redtooth Poker Vegas 100 ticket on Saturday night in a £22 freezeout with 155 runners. Off to Vegas next May now - still buzzing!

Many congrats womble, very well done.

Thanks tikay :)

Nice one!

congratulations, have a ball

The Rio Hotel is sold but the WSOP will remain there for 2 years at least;



https://news3lv.com/news/local/caesars-sells-rio-hotel-to-real-estate-company-for-516-million

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xIgh4cvRhA

Mr Schulman always a good listen.

Shouldn't there be a '.' in there ;D

More on the sale of the Rio;



“Importantly, we believe this transaction is incremental to management’s (one-to-two) Strip asset divestiture target, which should be more deleveraging given higher purchase multiples,” Jonas told investors.


All clear on that, then?



https://www.cdcgamingreports.com/analyst-rio-sale-may-lead-to-another-use-for-the-las-vegas-casino-resort/

Farewell MPN.

What alternatives are available for Grosvenor and others once MPN closes? It's the only online poker site I play these days, mostly for satellites.  Party is associated with a venue I can't play at and people I can't support, and Stars just seems so very hard to win on.

Grosvenor, 32Red etc will all be moving to another Network, so will still exist.

It's almost certain that MPN itself will remain, & deliver a new poker product, which won't be available to the skins as previously.  

Grosvenor is the worst poker site I have ever played on. If MPN closing means they move to a different network I can't see that as a bad thing - it would have to go some to be worse!

Thanks Doobs and Marky too :)

Agree with this.  The last time I played on it, it couldn't even break tables properly during a tournament.

Wouldn't have thought MPN is going anywhere, their events are massive.

I went to that Malta one last year, and have never seen anything like it outside of Vegas.

give it another go Red

Because I like you, and I value your opinion, and we share interests outside poker, and I haven't heard from you in a 'coon's age, and I was a bit rude the first time I dismissed it, I will give it another go.

Would the interest outside of poker be shooting Tom?

Shooting, field sports, ratting terriers & outdoor pursuits in general engy.

I went clay shooting the other day, it was the first time in years and I was absolutely useless.

I shot two boxes of cartridges and was all aches and pains with a bruised shoulder to boot.

The clays finished the day in much better shape than I did.

I thought it might be the shooting and the terriers Tom. I knew Alex was into all that when he was living back here.

No need to shoot him, he only said he didn't like Joey.

One for the "what were they thinking?" file;

The scene - A Ladies only MTT over the weekend as part of "the Battle of Malta" thing.

And the Dealers turned up dressed like this;


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



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

Those dealers will catch their deaths and then hopefully sue.

Norman Chad knows..

Tournament poker is becoming a joke – re-buys, re-entries, unlimited re-entries, late late registration, quantum this & quantum that.

At the WSOP Main Event, how ‘bout you just pay $1.3 million & we’ll slip you onto the final table, plus you get a Rio Carnival World buffet comp?

I mean, you folks can spend weeks arguing about BB Ante & weeks on markup shaming, but where are all the high-minded poker bigwigs leaning out the window & shouting, “I’m mad as hell & I’m not going to take it anymore” when it comes to UNLIMITED re-entry at WSOP bracelet events?

WSOP Europe:
Every single event is re-entry and most of them are UNLIMITED re-entry.
These are WSOP bracelet events.
This is not poker.
This is open up your wallet and try to build a big stack, and if you bust, open up your wallet and do it again. And again. And again.






https://twitter.com/normanchad/status/1185686757028663296?s=21

Can you imagine if the women had to turn up topless?

The world gets madder.

Or if the female valets all had to wear hot pants?

And imagine if they gave bjs at the break
Would be terrible

The two Phil's HU in their respective events @ WSOP-E.

Hellmuth the €25k mixed games & Ivey the €50k short deck.

A few lines from the poker news reports on a $100,000 tournament...


Nitsche Eliminated for the Last Time

Posted 2 hours 28 minutes ago ajlamers • Level 13: 60,000-120,000, 120,000 ante SHARE
Dominik Nitsche shoved all in for 640,000 in the cutoff and Danny Tang asked for a count from the small blind but decided to fold. Chin Wei Lim on the other hand, wasted no time in making the call from the big blind.

Chin Wei Lim: {a-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}
Dominik Nitsche: {2-Spades}{2-Clubs}

The flop of {j-Hearts}{10-Clubs}{9-Hearts} put Lim out front with a pair of tens. The turn was the {3-Diamonds} and the river was the {5-Hearts} to eliminate Nitsche from the tournament for the seventh and last time.

I get this is a slippery slope, but I can't get excited about people firing multiple bullets at a 100k.  I think there is a better argument about whether some of these should get bracelets at all, as the unique entries are so low, but some of the early WSOP bracelets had some pretty small fields and they count.  I am also more alarmed if this becomes a regular thing in the 1.5k events, but you still have to beat a large number of people even on 2 bullets, and I don't see much difference between me rebuying event 55 and me playing a few more days and playing events 55 and 58. 

Having lots of cash is always a good way to accumulate bracelets; I play 1 or 2 a year with biggish fields, your wealthy businessman can fire multiple 10k bullets at championship events.  It is the same on Stars, where if you are rich enough you can play lots of high price level SCOOP/WCOOP events with a 100 or so entries.

FWIW I find the ultra late entry far more annoying in the comps I play.  You can play 30 mins in an O8 hyper with just 2 or 3 tough opponents at your table, then you get to the last minute or two of late reg and 10 players appear from nowhere (well frequently Japan) and late reg.  They can then shove a wide range with 8 bbs and always get value from the blinds and antes in NLO8 without much thinking.  The way that Stars distribute prizes means that as well as having 10 new opponents, the first prize frequently reduces with the late reggers too.  I am pretty sure that a few of them seat select and only play when the empty seat(s) are in a favourable position on the table with least players.  I have genuinely started stalling with late reg coming to an end if I get a chance to keep the BB on the right of the empty seats.  Though it isn't perfect as you can catch someone who has played from the start, but is on their 3rd bullet.  Some weeks the games just die as you struggle to get 5 at the start, even when there is 40 or 50 by the end of late reg.

Reading this Doobs reminds me of my local cash game. You have multiple people buying in for the min and Just jamming over a standard open for the game. Lose and repeat. Win and then start playing a bit of poker.

I understand its a strategy but just as annoying as these late late registrations and unlimited rebuys.

Cap it at one

Good thread, read it all and a lot of the replies resonated with me.  Have been around poker for a long time like most of you and thought I would add in my own observations.

Poker online is basically over imo, it has been heading that way for a good 5+ years as well.  Real time GTO programs/prompters exist.  The game has pretty much been solved, why would you want to play against that?  Nobody in their right mind would play chess online for money vs a stranger and poker is heading the same way.  The sites are in a tough position - it's pretty much impossible to eliminate the use of such tools (or bots using them) from the games but if they ignore it real players complain when they catch it happening.  Trying to police this stuff costs a lot of time and money and in the end trying to stop it is futile.  The sites have known this for a long time. I doubt I will ever play online for anything resembling decent money again.

I do still love the game though and want to play (as a rec player, for fun).  Live is where it's at, but there are some concerning trends here also.  I have been told regs in a certain UK city are sneakily taking photos of everyone and circulating them with relevent information on whatsapp groups.  The info came from someone who I would usually listen to and having watched out for it I am pretty sure I saw it happening.  I have also seen ipad's being used at the table with poker simulators up on them. It would be a harsh rule but I can only really see all devices being banned at the table as the way out from all of this going forward.  Headphones would have to be banned also, not exactly going to be popular but it has to be this way I think.

No phones, no headphones no tablets......would be good

Music often gets me through long tournament days.

Maybe just have Random checks of headphone usage by the floor. And mobile phones away or turned over if you are in a hand or your hand is dead.

For players like me who enjoy listening to music whilst playing poker shouldn't be punished for a few bad eggs

I miss those days.

most enjoyable part of live poker for me was the interaction on the table between players, when this died when phones and tablets were allowed at table and people started multitabling i lost interest in live poker
would love another blonde Bash but wouldnt get any numbers any more
will look at getting to an apat or sky event next year but doubt i will know anyone anymore

Seen worse folds

I was just staring at this think wtf, but it seems it was misreported...

https://twitter.com/Mike_partypoker/status/1189296665708171264 (https://twitter.com/Mike_partypoker/status/1189296665708171264)

I hate to disappoint you @plenopads but @BJNemeth got it wrong.  It was set over set over set but I folded a set of fours which was a pretty easy fold as it was played. Wish I was good enough to fold a set of Queens there but chances are I’d be in the re-buy line. #wpt

FWIW I am not really sure folding a set of queens would be a good fold.  It feels a bit results orientated to me.  If I was sitting there with a set of queens and somebody donked 30k, I am sure I'd probably dread it a little, but still call. 

One of the most extraordinary hands you'll ever see.



https://twitter.com/rob_yong_/status/1196867391495507968

OUCH!

Infriggincredible.

This incredible double bad-beat has circulated quickly.

The Pieman forwarded it to me with caption: “Probably start self harming if I got this beat”.

rigged

 Ten Jack wins one in ten on board one and around one in twenty on board two.

Surely the second one is a one-outer so ~40/1

One out, twice...

If I had a pound for every time algebra has helped me, I'd have x pounds.

 :blonde:

Are there any proper freezeouts available these days? 

All UK APAT main events are freezeout. They have one re-entry when overseas.

DTD appear to have one this Saturday and on Sat 7 Dec.

I think that's unlimited re-entry Mr L.

Oh, my bad. You mean the £30+5.

Indeed. The days of £100/£300/£500 freezes appears to be in the past.

Good news from the CPP - Chris Brammer wins big.



https://twitter.com/partypokerlive/status/1197114881335582720



(http://i.imgur.com/GMMyPG0.jpg) (https://imgur.com/GMMyPG0)

Half the WSOP events are still proper freezeout.   You'd struggle to find one online, but think all stars HOT events are still freezeouts.  I think the BIGs might be too, but I can't play til 6am anyway.  

Party PLO8 events are still one re-entry and fairly slow paced; Stars are frequently knockout, frequently hyper, frequently no limit and almost always allow 3 re-entries...  Often all 4.   It doesn't seem to stop people though.  The 55 at 9.50ish which is a hyper knockout runs every day; the 55 turbo at 10.30 often struggles to get the 5 players needed to start.  

Sorry Dooby, I should have said live poker.

Dealer-dealt nine-handed freezeouts with no more than one hour's late-entry are what dreams used to be made of.

Instead we have unlimited re-entry right up to the start of Day 2.

Everybody’s loving the rush to online Poker...

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/02/online-gambling-poker-us-coronavirus-lockdowns

Just had my worst month in ages and it didn't get better last night.  All these people telling me they are crushing isn't helping my mood.  I had the first genuine wtf just happened hand in a while just before the bubble in the stars million.  It is all happened since Tikay got control of the Stars Golden leaver.

Going to listen to some garden birdsongs.  Think birdsong is the next bubble.

bit of a blast from the past last night,  with wpt on party poker being real names , i see dave penly on table but did not immediately twig that that was riverdave who had some problems here a long time ago .

i just found his "inthewell" which is in the best of blonde section,not seen it before , amazing reading blokes had some quality  spin ups, worth finding if you not seen it, i would link if knew how.

mini (109) version not main btw

Saw him the other day, think it must have been a Plo8 comp.  Good luck to him, but did this ever end well on any previous occasion? 

stato_1 is sitting in 3rd place in scoop sunday warm up with 16 left,  177k ftw

best of luck mate

Saw he was doing well last night.

Good luck Stato and any other blondes in the mix!

He finished 4th; still a decent bink.

Colin Young passed away yesterday after a short battle with cancer

Just saw this on Facebook. Poor Colin, such a lovely guy who will be sadly missed, always loved sharing a table with him and never heard him say a bad word about anyone.

RIP Colin

Yep , lovely fella , always had time for a chat. Sad day.

Very much this.  I haven't played at dtd for years but when i was a reg he was always there and loved life and the game. 

Smashing bloke who always seemed to be on my table in the GP satties when I was on the hunt for a Golden Chip. There was a proper community in those games during office hours.

He did love a sat.  He didn't miss out many sats online or live in the club for the big events.   He was a proper old school punter.  Loved talking about gambling of all forms.

Horrid disease. RIP.

Rob Yong, Kevin Hart, Jaime Staples podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfZxM_730dY&t=2467s

A lot of old familiar names in the Colin Young Tournament last night.

Good podcast, that. Cheers!

Kevin Hart marathon this week, having just watched him on Rogan the other night :)

The year it all started (for some of us) 2003 WSOP being replayed on PokerGo this week.

Saves me donating, and keeps me entertained for a bit :)

The title is a bit sensational, but this is a decent read.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/how-i-became-poker-champion-less-year/613372/

I have already got the book, it is the first poker book I have been interested in for some time, and I normally give hardbacks a miss. 

I have only just started it, but it seems well written, and I will put up a review in the book thread when I have finished.

More poker talk..  It seems a bit poor that this online WSOP has no PLO8 or many other mixed games on GGpoker.  I think the only choice is Omaha or Hold Em (I was only loooking for PLO8, but can't remember seeing anything else).  Obv having 22 start days with rebuys for the main event is a serious issue too.  Presumably people will still be counting these in their bracelet counts in years to come?  I'd hate to see the real WSOP main event have multiple re-entires on day 1A, B, C and D in future.  I curremtly have the hope to play it again some day, but don't want to be going back where all the new whizzkids can have 4 cracks at it.

I know Negreanu wanted it as a f/o, but obviously he doesn't get the final say, and as this is a unique situation and not something that is planned for every year. Think they wanted to make it the biggest GTD tourney ever, too.

Upside of the software not being able to facilitate anything bar the big 2 games, is that I'd think the live WSOP (if they get there) will have a much more mixed games based schedule.

Think Terrence Chan was saying how good it was, too.

Came across this interview with Brandon Adams talking about the book.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PWsBJoX3pQ

Maria v good on the Staples podcast too

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-PDr1bii4

If you were watching the last live stream of the WPT World Online Championship festival last night you will have seen Charlie Godwin finish 3rd for $620,000

Quite the result. Well in a festival where we have had over a dozen huge satellite stories the WPTWOC saved the best til last. Charlie, a regular on the UK circuit who started off working in a casino a number of years ago and caught the poker bug, had the following journey

$109 satellite
$1,050 Phase
$10,200 satellite
$102,000 seat
$620,000 prize

It was an incredible final table with the High Roller Michael Addamo, who won for over $1.2m after a heads up deal with Isaac Haxton, producing some incredible plays..commented on by Leonard, Dempsey, Dunst and Gross.

you can watch it back hand by hand at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmCwmrS-l8&t=576s and admire Charlie's patience as she navigates such a tough line up

Watched it all last night, and was superb viewing.

Flushy and Pads are a great double act on comms.

Have watched all of this bar the last hour.  The play and commentary are really good and well worth a watch.  Was cheering on Charlie though she missed a couple of spots, but must have been hard with an absolute beast on her right.

I think we have been really spoilt this last few weeks.  I had the Stars main event final table on twitch earlier in the week and that was really good too.

The $500 PLO8 final table was on the Stars YouTube channel too.   I managed to bottle a hand which would have looked brilliant if I pulled the trigger.  I had a what the fk are you doing moment in the middle of the hand.  It is much easier with cards up.

Andre who won the WCOOP 5k Main on Stars is a super nice guy and plays excellent. Really happy for him.

He played really well; I was rooting for him towards the end.