Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[SuuPRlim]

Teacake, exactly what did Mr mr giblets have to do in order to reach 60,000 points?! sounds like a great achievement, wpwp Mr G. as I appraoch hand 8000 for the year i feel utterly inspired to improve my workrate

[AndrewT]

Teacake, exactly what did Mr mr giblets have to do in order to reach 60,000 points?! sounds like a great achievement, wpwp Mr G. as I appraoch hand 8000 for the year i feel utterly inspired to improve my workrate

Neil basically turned himself into the Lawnmower Man

[JaffaCake]

Actually this 6 max comp is generally pretty fast n furious, £200 6max tonight GUKPT sidey.....gonna take notes on how quick it goes to see if it fits in Keef's opening range

[b4matt]

Teacake, exactly what did Mr mr giblets have to do in order to reach 60,000 points?! sounds like a great achievement, wpwp Mr G. as I appraoch cocktail 8000 for the year i feel utterly inspired to improve my drinking

Fyp

[kinboshi]

Incredible stuff, well done Neil.

You've captured his best side there.  You're obviously cut-out for this photography lark.

[jakally]

Teacake, exactly what did Mr mr giblets have to do in order to reach 60,000 points?! sounds like a great achievement, wpwp Mr G. as I appraoch hand 8000 for the year i feel utterly inspired to improve my workrate

Play lots, and try not to lose too much.

I did some very rudimentary calculations, which indicated I needed to grind c115,000 hands during the month. (Some will do slightly more, some a little less, depending on the stakes played).
The main challenges were upping the grind from my normal 5-6 tables, to 9-12 (which didn't go well, particularly at the top end of that range), and the fact that I am old, lazy and slow.

[tikay]

Camel made mention of Jeff Buffenburger ("Buff") somewhere yesterday.

Buff is one of those rare folks who is liked by everyone. A big smile is perma-fixed to his face, & he always sees the positive side of life, a proper glass half full guy.

He has a business - I think he trades in used Mobile Phones & Office copiers etc, he refurbishes them & resells them, probably - I don't know - to third world countries. 

If you play poker, & Jeff walks into the room, you'd pay good money for him to be on your table, he is such fun, & I've never once known him throw a sulk over anything.

He went through a bad spell about 2 years back, due to illness in tyjhe family, which never worked out well, but he seems to have got his mojo back now.

In the inaugural WSOP-E (£10k buy-in), Jeff was in good shape & they were on the money bubble. A deep-stacked kid was exploiting the bubble dynamic, & when Jeff opened with K-K, the kid jammed on him, expecting a fold, & Jeff, of course, made the quick call to find himself up against K-8, or K-10, as good as it gets, but the kid got lucky & busted Jeff. Even that never wiped the smile off his face (he plays off his own money), despite the fact that £19,000 had just gone down the swanee. 

We see "heroes" & "legends" talked about in poker every day, which is a slight exaggaration of the term, to put it mildly, but if there were suich a thing as a poker hero, Jeff would be one.

In the photos below, you'll see thr "Michigan" cap - Jeff is a yank, & in one photo, note the random fish on his mobile, tsk tsk. That, as it happens, was Luton, & on the table also was "Pepe", & Joe Grech. Plus the random on his phone.

I was sat to his left when this happened, and the bubble was over £27,000 that 1st year. Such an incredibly nice guy, didn't stop laughing and joking all day, but even he let a note of disappointment creep into his voice for just a second after that. IIRC "the kid" was Marcello Marigliano: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=91660

Thanks James, & I stand corrected, the "bubble" was worth £27,000, not £19,000 as I stated. That has to pinch a bit, & all the more credit to the man.

PS - I hope your Auction went well. Guess who forgot to bid?........

I did it in conjunction with another - wiser & better - chap last time, & he did one bid, for a tidy %, which we intended to share, 50/50, but we got the bid price wrong, & we never got any.  I was waiting to agree something along the same lines this time, a joint bid, if you like, but I plum forgot. Hope you get the lot in Austria. It's not wholly beyond the realms of possibility that I may fancy a jaunt, & come out myself. Good luck, anyway.

[tikay]

I was really pleased I wrote that thing about Jeff Buff, as it was so grand to see so many testimonials about him from good players (Camel, Mr Kimber etc), & also from celtic & Barry Crater.

Jeff has been in touch with me tonight, & is deffo playing the Luton SPT this Saturday. All good.

I gather Barry collected an award at the European Poker Awards in Paris last night too. I can honestly say, (I was on the Nomination Panel) that I never nominated hm, or voted for him.

[tikay]

The Coldplay debate.

No opinion, they do nothing for me, they neither offend, or please especially, some of their stuff is mildly entertaining, some not so. A support-support act imo.

Just shows, it's all subjective, very much shades of grey. Or Yellow.

[tikay]

IIRC "the kid" was Marcello Marigliano: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=91660

he has a pretty interesting story as well tikay, an extremely wealthy italian businessman who randomly appeared on the high stakes tables in ~2007 and was gloriously donating at 100/200 - 300/600 heads up NL. He later claimed in interviews that he'd played practically zero no limit holdem before jumping into HU games at nosebleeds vs the worlds best players. Obviously there was a queue the size of Sicily waiting to play him, within about 3 years very few people were prepared to give him action and he actually beating some reasonably tough no-limit line-ups - the tracking sites actually have him as a lifetime winner from NL online (this might not be true as he doubtless lost a LOT at the start) but he was almost certainly a winner from his last 2 years of play on FTP.

He also made one of the most insane bluffs we've seen on TV vs Dwan in his live Million Dollar challenge



This guy is the typical monster whale (rich, older, Italian) but certainly a terrific achievement from a middle-aged recreational player to be able to turn himself into a winning player at the top levels.

Nice story Dave, thanks.

The bluff was not just insane, it was awesomely super epically insane.  Why? because the Gentleman was, to use your words, "middle-aged/old". And we all know that middle aged & old blokes can't play, eh?

I jest, of course, but the way many - almost all - youngsters stereotype older & or foreign players does amuse me somewhat.

"It was a great table, one gifted player (me), 3 regulars, 2 fish & an old bloke".

Lol, bless!

How many times do we see that piece of stunning arrogance?? Of course, it is assumed, not said, that the author is God's gift to poker, la la, but the way they stereotype everyone really makes me amused.

It's the same as "ooh, let's go play the Tourney in France/Spain, all French/Spanish poker players are utterly woeful, so we are great value".

I mean, really, who believes that sort of stuff? Some do? Well all I can say is they need to think for themselves, & spend less time on 2+2, because it is, & I say this respectfully, utter bollox. IMO, of course.

Love the blogs Mr N, what is next on the writing front? When are you off to EPT Deauville, to win me lots of lovely money from those woeful French players, then?

PS - I'm just having some fun here, do excuse me, I don't really have a high horse. Honest.

[Karabiner]

The Coldplay debate.

No opinion, they do nothing for me, they neither offend, or please especially, some of their stuff is mildly entertaining, some not so. A support-support act imo.

Just shows, it's all subjective, very much shades of grey. Or Yellow.

Your opinions on music hold little sway with me since afaik you never even had a record collection as a lad

[tikay]

The Coldplay debate.

No opinion, they do nothing for me, they neither offend, or please especially, some of their stuff is mildly entertaining, some not so. A support-support act imo.

Just shows, it's all subjective, very much shades of grey. Or Yellow.

Your opinions on music hold little sway with me since afaik you never even had a record collection as a lad

Be patient, Mr S, I've been busy, studying form, & punting, all day. You know how it is with us punters.......

[Karabiner]

The Coldplay debate.

No opinion, they do nothing for me, they neither offend, or please especially, some of their stuff is mildly entertaining, some not so. A support-support act imo.

Just shows, it's all subjective, very much shades of grey. Or Yellow.

Your opinions on music hold little sway with me since afaik you never even had a record collection as a lad

Be patient, Mr S, I've been busy, studying form, & punting, all day. You know how it is with us punters.......

Don't worry about it, I never really thought you had a record collection anyway.

I was just being uncharacteristically mischievous.

[tikay]

Teacake, exactly what did Mr mr giblets have to do in order to reach 60,000 points?! sounds like a great achievement, wpwp Mr G. as I appraoch hand 8000 for the year i feel utterly inspired to improve my workrate

Play lots, and try not to lose too much.

I did some very rudimentary calculations, which indicated I needed to grind c115,000 hands during the month. (Some will do slightly more, some a little less, depending on the stakes played).
The main challenges were upping the grind from my normal 5-6 tables, to 9-12 (which didn't go well, particularly at the top end of that range), and the fact that I am old, lazy and slow.

It was most impressive, Neil, the discipline you maintained, & the energy required.

Only 3 guys finished the "challenge" (successfully) before you, & two of them used other means - HU SNG'e etc, which is slightly different.

It's no secret - there is a whole thread about it next door - but there are about 20 players in line for it this month, 16 of whom are still to reach the Target, though they will, of that I'm sure.

Looking forward to seeing you on the Show, I don't have my February Show dates to hand, but I think/hope I'm on that night.

[tikay]

The Coldplay debate.

No opinion, they do nothing for me, they neither offend, or please especially, some of their stuff is mildly entertaining, some not so. A support-support act imo.

Just shows, it's all subjective, very much shades of grey. Or Yellow.

Your opinions on music hold little sway with me since afaik you never even had a record collection as a lad

Be patient, Mr S, I've been busy, studying form, & punting, all day. You know how it is with us punters.......

Don't worry about it, I never really thought you had a record collection anyway.

I was just being uncharacteristically mischievous.

Not like you, Mr S?