Hey, I'm Sida, a few of you might know me.

I woke up this morning and found this thread and the other one on 2+2. I guess I'm bit angry, and very dissapointed at just how some people are. When I met Marc, he was a real nice guy, and nothing suggested to me that he would ever do something like this. This is my story from last night (x-posted from 2+2):

I sent marc wright $1.4k last night, after being hassled for a long time. Everytime I come on MSN and he's on, he'd ask me for the odd $300-$500 to ship to him, for a myriad of excuses, such as "Oh I can't deposit on my card" or "I just need a few hundred for my horses". The few first times, I genuinely either maxed out my transfer limits or I wasn't in front of my computer.

I've been warned by my poker friends who have been grimmed/took a long time to be paid back by him before, but I've met him in person a few times and I thought he was a really nice guy, and I heard about how he's won the sunday million twice already, so all those warnings and doubts were lost in my mind.

I didnt save the MSN chatlog but basically he asked for $600-$800 originally for ftops, to be shipped back when "his american online mates" come online to pay him back or when he sees me in person in London for WPT/WSOPE next month. I assume he just didnt want to redeposit, but alarm bells shouldve rung in my head already (If he shipped 2 Sunday Millions, why the **** would he always need the odd few hundred in his tilt or stars account, how could he not keep at least $25k online?) Whatever, I was 12 tabling, stuck, and I just wanted to send him money to shut him up so I can concentrate.

So i reply hastily without really reading, saying "how much you want, $800?", and he says "make it 1k imo" (Lol how the **** did I get grimmed). I agreed like a chump, shipped him 1k on tilt. About an hour or so later, he asks for another $400-$600 on tilt for his "horses". Truth is, he is broke and he doesn't have any horses. He's looking for a stake himself. I just I told him I didnt have enough money on tilt to send anymore and I need the rest for FTOPs ($3006m rebuy, obv expensive), but in reality I had more than enough on tilt, I was just starting to feel a little suspicious about his constant begging for money. He then says "oh just ship on stars man, I can get a trade". (This should def have been the alarm bell of the century) Obv I'm a moron and after another hour, in between 12 tabling and getting frustrated, I somehow shipped him another $400 on tilt.

Throughout all this, he's chatting to me, talking about poker, congratulating my 50R win last week, etc (obv just sucking my **** to get money out of me). As soon as I shipped the $1.4k, he snap stops talking, and logs off MSN quite soon after. FWIW he always "appears as offline" on MSN, even when hes talking to you, which means he doesnt have to deal with people who he's owed money to if he doesn't want to, but still be able to constantly beg other people who he is 'clean' with.

So obv I wake up this morning and I find this thread, and another thread on UK's biggest poker forum about how Marc Wright has scammed 2-3 different people just yesterday:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=49229.0

Soemone compiled a list of who is owed by Marc Wright, and it totals to $40k to 11 different people.

I'm not seeing my money back.

turbo fistpump tip dealer snap call

mitchell chip count pls? thx

gogoogoggo mitchell 1 time

mitchell ftw updates plz, thanks

ship the mitchell update too cheers guys

update on james mitchell? thx

james mitchell update>?

You really think 2+2 isn't a solid strategy based site?

I guess what I meant was a strategy based discussion portal. Some might say 2+2 doesn't have much a community 'feel' to it, but I think it's certainly got lots of gems of wisdom, and it certainly helped with my game when I was posting and reading through the last 2-3 years.

Neither am I saying blondepoker isn't a solid site, I just thought it was based more about the news and media aspects of live tournament poker in the UK.

edit: sorry forget my ignorance, I just don't browse through UK forums much, and I don't know too much about blondepoker. I guess my main point is that I still feel BBP could be something big, and I want to be part of it.

It's a site built around a strong community of top UK players, and I can really see this community growing. US have 2+2 and p5's, yet in the UK there still isnt a solid strategy based community/site.

Have you ever read 2+2 or p5's?

Yea, I read 2+2 and post quite frequently, what is your point?

Oh btw I'm Sida

Hey guys,

Just want to say a big thank you to everyone for the kind words and support, and a big well done to all the graders who completed. I feel very sorry for alot of quality players who missed out on brown belt, and even more so for James Atkins who definately deserved at least a blue belt. Seems like some graders are left bitter and some felt cheated, but I guess it's all understandable.

Regarding the question why I might need backing:

The answer is, I don't really need backing. Without sounding like a complete douche, I can comfortably afford the tournament buy ins. However, Black Belt Poker is more than just a staking site. It's a site built around a strong community of top UK players, and I can really see this community growing. US have 2+2 and p5's, yet in the UK there still isnt a solid strategy based community/site. With BBP I feel it could be the first. I want to be part of this, and I think it'll be a good thing for UK poker.

Being backed also provides an extra security cushion for me, and I'm also looking forward to achieving the Black Belt goal to be able to play in 10k events on a regular basis, which I'm not rolled for. Hope this answers the question.


On a side note, I'm not BadBeatPanda. I was playing under the name 'grindondamind' for the ipoker grading, and I usually play on pokerstars normally.

weeeeeeeeeee cheers guys hopefully i'll bink some bracelets

I'm one of the graders too, I'm with latiad on this one and it's been one hell of a ride.

GL to all the graders remaining