Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[turny]

My local pool club is privately owned, no committee, and they run whatever poker they like, tourneys and raked cash games with no limits in place whatsoever. They even have a hugh sign in the window advertising their weekly £50 and £100 freezeouts.

they are plain and simply breaking the law

[Graham C]

My local pool club is privately owned, no committee, and they run whatever poker they like, tourneys and raked cash games with no limits in place whatsoever. They even have a hugh sign in the window advertising their weekly £50 and £100 freezeouts.

It's not in Farnborough by any chance is it?

[vegaslover]

Tell me about it. They been doing it for years, and charge bloody ridiculous fees/rake. Why I refuse to play there, even with all the poor players that fill the place

[turny]

Tell me about it. They been doing it for years, and charge bloody ridiculous fees/rake. Why I refuse to play there, even with all the poor players that fill the place

depends what u call ridiculous really and what you get for your money.
people dont mind paying for a well run well structured tournament.
its the ones that charge a fortune and give a bad service that give the rest a bad name

[Rod Paradise]

How about THIS for a true miracle of nature?

Trout, wanting to move upstream, jumping into a downsteream pipe. Extraortdinary!

I'm VERY sceptical about that one. Looks like a photoshopped windup tbh.

Also the brown trout doesn't migrate upstream to spawn as is said in the article AFAIK.

[kenjude]

I'm VERY sceptical about that one. Looks like a photoshopped windup tbh.

Also the brown trout doesn't migrate upstream to spawn as is said in the article AFAIK.

If it was a wind-up then the Telegraph wasn't the only paper taken in by it. It was in at least one other paper on the same day.

[robbiebox]

Dik9 , do you know if these gaming club permits are easy to get? Do clubs with certain size gaming machines have them already? Is there an extortionate cost to getting one?

[dik9]

I am sorry Robbiebox, I couldn't tell you at the moment, but will try and find out for you. But your local WMC should be able to tell you more about it.

[tikay]

Need to Update this, had a very interesting few days, but I'm doing the Show tonight, so I need to get going. I'll try & Update it after the Show, I'm not going home tonight, as I've taken up residence at the Hotel Saint Giles (should be called "Hovel Saint Giles", but that's another story) in Feltham for a few days, as I went to a "do" in Clapham last night, am working in Feltham tonight, & doing APAT at The Vic tomorrow (Saturday). I can't be arsed to drive into Central London, so I've based myself here & can take the train up to London in the morning.

I seem to be suffering from sleeping disease, & am forever tired. So - for once - I did a sensible thing last night, & instead of going to a club after the main "do" (the Sky Party) with all the others, & resisting the temptation to pop up to Luton for the Cash Game, I came straight back here like a boring old fart & went straight to bed - before 1am, a record for me. And, do you know what, I slept - for the first time in weeks - wonderfully - & got 10 hours solid kip, & felt wonderful when I awoke. I'm beginning to think that there's a correlation between lack of sleep, & forever feeling tired.

But into every sunny day, a little must fall. I felt terrific when I awoke, but then I got a 'phone call from a good friend - a BAD 'phone call. It seems I've didded a very silly & incredibly embarrassing, thing. More of which later, groan......

For now, to the two parties involved, I'm really very sorry guys. My failing memory will be the death of me.

[TightEnd]

 I'm beginning to think that there's a correlation between lack of sleep, & forever feeling tired.

 

Really? Patent the idea quick

[Laxie]

About flippin time you got a proper night's sleep Mr.!!!

[tikay]

Well, the Sky Poker Party on Thursday was just horrible. Load of young girls, scantily clad, groping & kissing everyone, ffs.......

It was in Clapham (well, Lavender Hill) at a place called Sugar Cane, & we had an absolute hoot.

From "front of camera" (embarrassingly known in the TV world, as, ahem, "talent"), were Kara Scott, Michelle Orpe, Nick Wealthall, Richard Orford, Dr Tom Sambrook, Matt Broughton, Tim Peters, & a goodly few others I've no doubt forgotten. Sky Suits in the form of Mark Robson (Miami Vic), Pete Ward, Stephen Downer, Emma Crowe, Helen Taylor, Natalie Sinclair, Claire Cook & again, loads I've forgotten. Des Duffy was at the Bar all night. No, really......From the Production side were Little Manc Jimmy, Chan, Mark, Fiona Flange Flannery, Harry Kirby, Sarah, Karlina, Anneka, & lots more, as well as (sorry, I'm bad with names), as well as Camerawomen/men, graphics & sound crew, the lot.

The Sky Bingo folks were all there too, these are starting to arrive in droves in Feltham now.

The Club closed at 11.30, & everyone moved on to an all-night jobbie, but I slipped away quietly, I'd had a lovely night, but this damn sleeping sickness is getting bad, so it was straight back to the Hotel for me.

[snoopy1239]

& I pity those that continue to chase the Big-Buck rainbows but don't have the wherewhithal.

This seems like an interesting comment. Can you elaborate further?

In case you've forgotten. Thought it could be an interesting talking point.

[tikay]

& I pity those that continue to chase the Big-Buck rainbows but don't have the wherewhithal.

This seems like an interesting comment. Can you elaborate further?

In case you've forgotten. Thought it could be an interesting talking point.

No - not forgotten, just been busy!

It mean't this really. Tournament Poker, indeed any Poker, is highly addictive, & way too many players are "chasing the dream", playing EPT's & GUKPT's & the like, hoping for that "one big cash", when they don't have the money.

In the new Poker News Magazine, there were two quite splendid interviews, one with el blondie, & another with Roland.

el Blondie said ( I forget the exact words, but the thrust was) "now I don't have DTD as a Sponsor, I can't afford to play the EPT's. They are not viable unless you are sponsored, or you have qualified". That's, arguably, the UK's best & most successful Tournament player talking.

And Roland said, even more tellingly......" people take advantage of my good nature, & borrow to play Events....I'll say no more".

And that's it in a nutshell. There are so many guys nipping to play these Events, & it has soured them for me. I have to avoid the damned nippers for a start, & I see the misery it's caused in their lives. As a result of which, do they really enjoy these Tournies? Do they heck.

Big Name players of my acquaintance have lost their homes, businesses, families, all because of poker addiction.

Now, of late, I've seen Poker at the other end - the smaller buy-ins, & it's totally differernt. No nipping, folks playing sensibly (because it's their own money), folks protecting & playing within their Bankrolls, & it's a totally different scene.

At the up to £500 level, any half-decent player can get by in small Tourneys, it's easy, especially if you combine it with some sensible cash-action. At the EPT Level, where 300 or 400 starry-eyed hopefuls turn up every time, how many do you think can, by any reasonable Bankroll Management Criteria, really afford to lash out €8,000 a time? Dave Colclough cannot - but they can? Give me a break!

So yes, I pity them, & I worry about them. We all have a responsibilitty towards "responsible gaming" (& blonde subscribe to that), so some of us have to bang the drum now & then.

Sadly, even down at the magnificent dtd, the Nippers have already arrived in force, it's endemic, & it's everywhere.

It's the dark side of poker.

[tikay]

Young Stuart Rutter is a great example of a youngster "chasing the dream" & playing the Big Buck Events. But he's doing it the right way. He's earning money the other side of the table, writing articles & taking pics for Poker News, & making sure he has a regular income. Good Man him.

Nobody has a "right" to pkay poker at the expense of others, be it paid for by Sponsors or Nippers, so they need to go earn some money themselves, do it the hard way, earn the right - literally - to play big buck events.

I doff my cap to the Stu Rutters of this world, who have got their Bankroll Management spot on. Instead of begging & borrowing & poncing, he goes out & earns the money he needs to cover Tournament Variance. Were there were more who did the same, eh?