Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

This isn't meant to be a contentious question but  1) have you any friends>
2)Do you ever play in a home game?

If so - and I think the situation Tikay was referring to was as close to a home game as it could be outside the home - then I think what he did was fine and I would be surprised if there wasn't some element of that at any friendly home game.

If you play 100% aggressive poker with your mates good luck to you but I can't fault Tikay for playing softer with his mates. His money, his choice, heads up, he's ahead on the night. GL to him.

You'll never see a happier bunch of guys when Tikay is at the table, and thats got to be good for the game imo.

Lol I am not sure why I am answering those questions but I will

1) I can confirm that I do have friends, thanks for your concern.

2) I have played in home games in the past, yes.

This isn't a home game and while it may feel like a home game it isn't by any definition of the word actually a home game, I believe the casino are charging a table fee and therefore the game is played on the casino rules.

I do play the same against people who I consider to be my friends, people I like or dislike. This is how I believe the game should be played obviously you and others disagree with that fair enough.

No they were not. We had a Private Dealer, & it was by now effectively a Private game. See my previous Post.

I understand 100% where you are coming from. I just think, in the specific circumstances & context, you are not correct in this particular instance.

[Longy]

Goodness me!

Again, it was not Online, & the room was deserted - it was like a Home Game. I would not do it Online, & you know I would not. I would not do it in "open" play, & you know I would not. But you know plenty who do. Those who collude for gain, or cheat, don't exactly diary it, so far as I'm aware.

As to what you describe as "decent upstanding members of the community", I don't know to whom you are referring, but there is a grand cocktail of good & bad out there, but I don't see any of them taking a lead from how I behave. I would say more's the pity, others might say the opposite. We are all entitled to our own take on it, including you.

At the end of a 12 hour Cash-Game with good friends, when I'd almost cleaned out the entire Table (by sheer luck, I hasten to add), it's fine by me to say "enough is enough". It's clearly not within the letter of the Rules. I don't really know what "the spirit" is in poker these days.

I respect your stance, of course. I don't agree with it, but I respect it.

I understand it wasn't online simply a comparison, it is played under the rules of G casino Luton which i would imagine in theory don't allow softplaying.

I was referring to yourself as a "decent upstanding member of the community" obviously, in fact I doubt there is anyone who fits that description better than yourself.  So from a personal point of view, I was surprised to hear this story.

I of course respect your stance on this as well, we simply disagree on this point. That is fair enough.

[celtic]

LOL, thanks Tony for saying i sat down with £300 to learn a game, makes me sound balla innit. Sadly it was the minimum £100 though 

[tikay]

I don't see this as anything about being a recreational player or caring about the money. It is about playing the game straight up and not soft playing people who you consider to be your "friends".

I believe it is against the spirit and probably the rules (if we had a decent set of rules) of the game and is a pretty poor example for less experienced players. Live poker is already full of this kind of bs, without the decent upstanding members of the community engaging in it.

If you did this on an online site you would probably be banned or at least given a warning and correctly so imo.

Goodness me!

Again, it was not Online, & the room was deserted - it was like a Home Game. I would not do it Online, & you know I would not. I would not do it in "open" play, & you know I would not. But you know plenty who do. Those who collude for gain, or cheat, don't exactly diary it, so far as I'm aware.

As to what you describe as "decent upstanding members of the community", I don't know to whom you are referring, but there is a grand cocktail of good & bad out there, but I don't see any of them taking a lead from how I behave. I would say more's the pity, others might say the opposite. We are all entitled to our own take on it, including you.

At the end of a 12 hour Cash-Game with good friends, when I'd almost cleaned out the entire Table (by sheer luck, I hasten to add), it's fine by me to say "enough is enough". It's clearly not within the letter of the Rules. I don't really know what "the spirit" is in poker these days.

I respect your stance, of course. I don't agree with it, but I respect it.

Tikay i totally agree with you i play in a live cash game two or three times a week and its always the same faces a good friend of mine plays in the game too and i have seen me let him off lightly in big pots when hes having a bad night and im winning.

I can understand the comments about soft playing but in my eyes its just being decent when a friend is having a bad night.

Yes, I understand them to. But some of us play for fun, & some take it very serious. Both are fine when they are kept seperate.

[tikay]

LOL, thanks Tony for saying i sat down with £300 to learn a game, makes me sound balla innit. Sadly it was the minimum £100 though 

Memory issues ftw. You must have had £300 & said "Ill sit with £100". And finished with £300!

[Dingdell]

The only thing I'm finding sordid about this is the Golden Showers reference. Will someone please explain that one to me? Not the actual meaning on GS obv but how he got that name?

[tikay]

Goodness me!

Again, it was not Online, & the room was deserted - it was like a Home Game. I would not do it Online, & you know I would not. I would not do it in "open" play, & you know I would not. But you know plenty who do. Those who collude for gain, or cheat, don't exactly diary it, so far as I'm aware.

As to what you describe as "decent upstanding members of the community", I don't know to whom you are referring, but there is a grand cocktail of good & bad out there, but I don't see any of them taking a lead from how I behave. I would say more's the pity, others might say the opposite. We are all entitled to our own take on it, including you.

At the end of a 12 hour Cash-Game with good friends, when I'd almost cleaned out the entire Table (by sheer luck, I hasten to add), it's fine by me to say "enough is enough". It's clearly not within the letter of the Rules. I don't really know what "the spirit" is in poker these days.

I respect your stance, of course. I don't agree with it, but I respect it.

I understand it wasn't online simply a comparison, it is played under the rules of G casino Luton which i would imagine in theory don't allow softplaying.

I was referring to yourself as a "decent upstanding member of the community" obviously, in fact I doubt there is anyone who fits that description better than yourself.  So from a personal point of view, I was surprised to hear this story.

I of course respect your stance on this as well, we simply disagree on this point. That is fair enough.

Not any more it seems - I'm a colluder now.

It's very very hard to explain, but I prefer to keep the diary honest. I wish I could tell more tales, but it's best I don't - the naivety of the poker public to what's what in some areas is astounding!

Let's agree to differ. I think the circumstances were very specific, you don't. That's OK.

[tikay]

The only thing I'm finding sordid about this is the Golden Showers reference. Will someone please explain that one to me? Not the actual meaning on GS obv but how he got that name?

Chompy gave him (G-Man) that name, on the Fantasy Poker League thread.

Freudian slip appraently, he fessed up.

Please avoid PMSL references.

[celtic]

The only thing I'm finding sordid about this is the Golden Showers reference. Will someone please explain that one to me? Not the actual meaning on GS obv but how he got that name?

I will give a multiple choice question, see if it helps.

It was a childish nickname supplied by one the following blonde members when G-Man foolishly named his dream team the Golden 5

Was it?

A. Chompy

B. Chompy

C. Chompy

Delete as applicable.

[Dingdell]

For anyone that's interested in mountains and molehills Red's thread now contains both as he has mentioned bagging a Munro.

[GreekStein]

Gotta say I'm actually with Tikay on this one Longy.

Nooooooooooooooooo!

Swim against the tide?

Very uncool that, you know.

It's a really weird one Tikay. I go up to Notts most months to play the DTD £300 and always stay at Stu's. He's been incredibly hospitable to me considering we've met through blonde but I now consider Stu a very good friend. When playing in cash games against one another it doesn't bother either of us if we take the lot off the other person. Same with many of my other friends.

However, a while ago when I was playing a live cash game against a much younger Greek friend of my cousin I did a 'Tikay'. This kid was exactly me when I was his age about 18 and I could see him going down the same route I was, about to ruin things for himself for a while because of gambling.

He was obviously a bad inexperienced player, much like I probably was back in the day (will wait for someone to make the 'you still are joke'). Eventually we get into a pot where he's bet £30 into about £40 on a flop of   with an obvious overpair. I call and make the disguised nuts on the   turn and lead into him for £400, which was his whole stack having sat with around £250. I told the kid to pass and that I didn't want his money etc etc. He still thought for a few minutes and begrudgingly folded KK. Obviously I showed him my hand. It was wrong of me to have played the hand that way, expecially when I probably cost myself about £250 doing that but I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing anything else.

[tikay]

Lol, I had just got him to say 'my favourite golfer is Tiger Woods' too.

I've not got involved in the Tiger stories, not Posted  word, but what a thing! One of the most extraordinary & unexpected "sports" stories ever.

I'm not gonna get involved in the morality of it, either. But watching Tiger on Day 4 of a Major is one of THE great thrills in sport, & I hope it all sorts itself out in time.

I was at St Andrews for the Centenary Open, when Woods done something I would not believe possible - 4 rounds of St Andrews without once getting in a bunker, or "trap" as the Yanks would say. Only if you have played St Andrews does the enormity of that hit home. Every bunker is perfectly placed. Trust me, I know, I've been in every bloody one.

It is a terrible shame really. The guy is still my sporting hero but now not my allround hero. My feeling is he will do some 'coming clean' round of interviews that will be carefully constucted to regain a little credibility/make his actions seem out of character (probably the death of his dad or some addiction to sex).

If he does make it back to the course in time to get his game in shape this is a year where he could easily go close to winning the Grand Slam.

The Masters course has now been tricked up to make it very hard to make birdies, there are about 6 proper birdie holes on the track now and the last handful of Masters have been won by players near the top of the leaderboard after day one because it isnt a chasing from behind course anymore. They softened it a little last year and got a grandstand finish so he could easily win there again.

The US Open is at Pebble Beach which can be a bit of a lottery if the wind gets up but he won by about 15 there one year so its almost the perfect course for him if it stays calm.

The Open is at St Andrews where he has won the last two Opens held there, again its almost the perfect Open course for him.

The PGA Championship is at Whistling Straits which can be both brutal and playable depending on how they decide to set it up and the wind off Lake Michigan can play havoc there.Tho it wouldnt be a huge price he gets there trying for the same season Grand Slam if he can get back to the level he has played at before all this fuss kicked up.

That would be a brilliant and fitting comeback from where he is now.

Yes, he's gone from "all-round Good Guy" to "best golfer ever".

I hope he does not, as you hint, blame some past event for his demise. That's the current fashion when folks go off the track - blame it on a bad childhood or some such equally ridic tosh excuse.

I'd like him to say "I messed up good & proper, & I  blame nobody except myself". He'll be on the way back then. In my books, anyway. Fessing up is always a good place to start. Blaming someone or something else makes me puke.

[bobby1]

The most cringeworthy thing he has said ishe 'is going to put his family first' Its a pity he wasnt doing that when he was copping off with all and sundry.

[Dingdell]

The most cringeworthy thing he has said ishe 'is going to put his family first' Its a pity he wasnt doing that when he was copping off with all and sundry.

Agreed - the worst thing about this for the wife is the unknowns about her past like with him. Trying to work out what has and hasn't been a lie, did he really mean it when he said x, y and z. She has done the best thing in getting some space between them, and I hope for her own sake she does divorce him.

[tikay]

Gotta say I'm actually with Tikay on this one Longy.

Nooooooooooooooooo!

Swim against the tide?

Very uncool that, you know.

It's a really weird one Tikay. I go up to Notts most months to play the DTD £300 and always stay at Stu's. He's been incredibly hospitable to me considering we've met through blonde but I now consider Stu a very good friend. When playing in cash games against one another it doesn't bother either of us if we take the lot off the other person. Same with many of my other friends.

However, a while ago when I was playing a live cash game against a much younger Greek friend of my cousin I did a 'Tikay'. This kid was exactly me when I was his age about 18 and I could see him going down the same route I was, about to ruin things for himself for a while because of gambling.

He was obviously a bad inexperienced player, much like I probably was back in the day (will wait for someone to make the 'you still are joke'). Eventually we get into a pot where he's bet £30 into about £40 on a flop of   with an obvious overpair. I call and make the disguised nuts on the   turn and lead into him for £400, which was his whole stack having sat with around £250. I told the kid to pass and that I didn't want his money etc etc. He still thought for a few minutes and begrudgingly folded KK. Obviously I showed him my hand. It was wrong of me to have played the hand that way, expecially when I probably cost myself about £250 doing that but I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing anything else.

Noted Cos.

You'd think by this Thread I don't play hard-ball against my friends in Poker!

Well ask Thewy, Red, Chili, Ding, Ralphy, Orford, LML, Chomps, we get our money in & do our best to bust each other without fail, every single time. It was suggested the Shrerwdies would "turn in their graves", I don't think so, nobody plays as hard against my close pals as I do.

This was a very unusual & odd situation, as I've explained at length. If some peeps wanna label me as a colluder, or suggest I acted improperly, fine, let them. The facts are there for all to see.