It took me an hour to calm down !

[DTD-ACES]

I popped down to Southampton tonight for my one and only attempt to qualify for the Grand Prix in Walsall , only 24 runners , 4 qualify , i have one rebuy , no add on and make the final slight chip leader , 2 players go out on the first hand and one player now has a quarter of the chips .

Two rounds of blinds went round and both times in his small blind the chip leader just flat called the elderly lady to his left , turned and looked at her and gestured he was happy to check it down which they did the first time , the second time she rivered a flush on a T T T 2 K flop and bet after he checked and he flat called and flipped over his K , the player on my left was saying how he thought this was a joke but then this happened.

There was another lady on my left , on her BB of 1200 the first three players passed , chip leader flat called , one limped and the SB called , pot was 4800 , flop was 8 5 4 with two hearts , the lady in the BB asked how much she could bet and was told up to 4800 , she bet 2000 , the chip leader raised to 8000 , passed to the BB she flat called leaving herself 1600 , so with 20,800 in the pot and his opponent obviously on a draw the chip leader looks straight at her and checks before the turn card is dealt , a blank falls and she checks , before the river he again checks , another blank , she now thinks about bluffing with her last 1600 and her missed nut flush draw with the A9 of hearts then checks and shows her hand , he turns over AA !

I was sitting there in disbelief and said to the player on my left in any other card room this soft play would be penalised , he agreed but no one else said a word , one round later and on her BB the chip leader raised , the lady who should have been out called for her last 300 and turned over Q5o to his AK , she turned a Q and doubled up , the guy on my left now went all in with 77 and lost to AQ that hit running diamonds , he was not a happy camper , one round later now fuming i find AJ in FP , she had 1100 left , i raise and i am unlucky to find KK in the SB but by now i couldn't care less , the other lady goes all in on my BB for her last 1300 with 77 and i find 83o , she doubles up , then in the SB all in , there is a limp then an all in raise uncalled , i find myself in the same situation the lady was in , i have Q7o v AJo , he flops an A and i finish 7th .

Outside i meet the other guy and he is still angry at the way this guy had soft played his AA which kept the BB in and  stopped the dynamics of the table changing and may have caused him to play a hand he wouldn't have had otherwise , usually i would have as a strategic play passed the AJ as i had enough to take one round of blinds before committing but that is not the point , the fact is i had stopped caring as i was disgusted at the plays i had seen and the fact it would appear to be normal here.

I was in a no lose situation , qualify and i go to Walsall , don't and i go to Paris Friday then to Lyon for three days to see Mathildes sister and her husband for his 40th birthday so now i have vented my anger i am a happy bunny .

Thanks for letting me have somewhere to do it .

ACES


PS Avoid Southampton !

[RED-DOG]

The last time I played Walsall a well Known player raised for 4000 on the turn and then passed a 9k pot to an all in that would have cost him 200 more to call

[Nem]

The last time I played Walsall a well Known player raised for 4000 on the turn and then passed a 9k pot to an all in that would have cost him 200 more to call

What did you say to the player(s)

[RED-DOG]

A few players had a moan, end of story

[Scottish Dave]

This is fekking bollox, this happens far too often not to be noticed, and time after time i see folk getting away with it, especially your point Red about Being majorly pot commited and folding!

Shocking plays!

PS aces, your always welcome here, mate. As Tikay says its more people like you that i want to hear there tales from the big table, hang around mate.

Dave

[ifm]

it's just not on, i'd have called the cardroom manager over. It wouldn't have made much difference in the first instance but might have stopped the others.
Gotta say Red i've never seen anything even remotely like that at walsall, obviously it happens though.

[RED-DOG]

I have to admit, it's pretty rare at Walsall

[ifm]

the only thing i've seen really is the "same village" crew not willing to chop a comp when they have chips and i don't but on another occasion willing to chop when one of "them" is billy low stack.
I never do deals with them anymore
Does that make any sense? i'm tired

[tikay]

Simon,

Welcome back, & thanks. We have missed you. A lot.

The Southampton malarky is cheating, pure & simple. Hard to stop,though.

But you have more chance than the rest of us. You are amongst THE most senior of players on the Circuit. You have clout. You have to lead the cause, & we'll all support you.

[TightEnd]

Simon,

you won't have seen it but I described a few weeks ago an equally blatant example of softplay elsewhere in a qualifier to the same event

I have been promised a meeting with people both from the cardroom itself and head office subsequent to this, but this has been postponed three times

I am not though giving up, this meeting will take place. I have no expectation of changing anything about my particular circumstance, but principle demands that I take it further.

Would it be ok if I showed them your post to add evidence to my argument?

[The Colonel]

I don't understand why it's cheating?
Everyone plays a different way dont they, what's he doing wrong? He won the hands, I don't see why it's not end of hand, on to the next one.

[TightEnd]

there's 20,800 in the pot, the lady only has 1600 left, the guy's chip leader and checks turn and river with AA....

no flush card has come. He is not being fair to the other players by not trying to eliminate the lady from the competition

[Dingdell]

i would reply to this post but I'm on my way to Southampton - I've heard that they soft play the women. Not sure what it means but I'm on my way......

[tikay]

Hehe, good luck Dingdell - see you Saturday, then!

Is it cheating?, asks The Colonel. Well we can agree that it's colludiing - definitely, it's patently obvious. And colluding at poker is the same as cheating. In my book, anyway. Soft play, same village stuff, is a dreadful thing, it raises the hackles of most players. Quite right, too. In my opinion, he hastily adds.....

[Junior Senior]

One word:  DISGUSTING! , another: CHEATING! , one more: PATHETIC!

I absolutely hate this type of behaviour - i am a man of principal and in that same situation or even on the bubble i would take my own father out of the competition! - thats the game - you play to win and for fun and nothing else!

I am fed up with fighting this losing battle and there are too many tales to recount on here and too many times to mention where i have been disgusted by the behaviour and attitude of players towards soft playing, chip passing and collusion.  I am affraid the attitude of casinos and card rooms and their managers is appaulling too but often they are powerless to do anything about it as it is not technically against the rule of the game.

Sadly, Tikay right - there is very little you can do other than try to educate people that this is bad for the game and against the etiquette of poker.

simon, you right to be appaulled.