Prose from a Poshboy

[cambridgealex]

London had probably been the obvious choice on paper for a while but I never liked it until I actually moved there. We lived in Stratford because there was regular 2/5 at the time there and Viktorija got a job dealing in the Empire. The 2/5 died after a couple months and on April 25th 2015, I decided to check out the Palm Beach. A momentous day. 

I’d heard lots of stories about Palm. Apparently a few months before, they’d banned a dozen or so regs for being too bad for the room. You had to dress up nice, be sociable, give action, tip etc. It was a two table cardroom with £5/10 minimum stakes. I probably had around £100k roll at the time so it was within my means, but with often a £25 straddle and regs that were clearly all stinking rich from the games there (not to mention much better than me), I was out of my comfort zone and shortstacked sitting with £1500 or £2k at a time.

I remember not knowing where to park on my first few visits and I’d been told they do valet parking. Usually for the Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Ferraris that frequent Mayfair, but I rocked up in my mondeo that had bird shit all over it and sheepishly handed the keys over

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It was a rude awakening about my skill level too. I’d learnt the basics of GTO from Stu Barnett (shout out to HoneyBadger) but never used piosolver before and it was clear now was the time to sink my teeth into it. I used to never 3bet hands that I didn’t want to have to fold to a 4bet, so my 3bet range never included hands like KJs, A5s, 98s - so if a flush came out in a 3bet pot I was screwed! I 3bet way too polar with many offsuit hands and junk like A4o, and would “go with my gut” if I thought a reg was 3betting light etc. I cut my teeth in DTD games where intuition was enough to print, I had a lot to learn.

3 months of hardcore study later and in August 2015 I started to see results, averaging £20k / month for the next 2.5 years until end of 2017. I loved it so much there. I’d play 8pm - 2am on average, 5-7 nights a week, and played very few tournaments. The game had been kicked up to £10/25 with often a £50 straddle and the good times just kept rolling. But all the regs knew to keep their mouths shut. Anyone suspected of bringing horses in was quickly admonished! The next biggest game in London was 2/5 so there was a huge gap for anyone wanting to take a shot. And it was often a very tough game. A lot of battling top players 8pm till midnight and sometimes nobody would join at all. But if you were patient and put the hours in you’d get rewarded.

The studying I was doing helped me make a vital mindset shift that served me very well. Before, I’d look around at the table and think “who’s the value here?” and if there wasn’t an obvious answer, I’d quit. But then I changed the question to, “who’s better than me here?”. I then had the confidence to play hours and hours in games with all pros, if I thought I was in the top 2 or 3. And when you did that, you gave yourself more of a chance to be there when the game turned sick all of a sudden, which it often did.

In early 2017 I approached the cardroom manager, Charlie, with a proposal to run a private daytime game on a Wednesday. I knew they used to have daytime games organised there but that the game had been taken to another casino, Aspinals. So I thought she’d be keen to have some extra business back and she was. Nik Persaud was part of that original game but no longer, and he helped me with players and together we built a decent game. The regs were worried it would affect the evening games. I was on good terms with everyone and I felt their fair concerns were balanced out by the evening game on Wednesdays would be much better than usual, with our game becoming public at 8pm. Most of our players already played in the Aspinals game, so keeping them in the building could only be a good thing I thought.

It was the start of tension with the regs that built up over the next few years as things developed and a rift between me and them was formed.

[tikay]

This is such a great read Alex.

I enjoyed being reminded of a few names that had slipped off my radar too - Stu Barnett/Honeybadger, Nik Persaud etc. 

[celtic]

Loving this Alex, thanks.

+1

Really enjoying it.

Great start to 2023

Same from me, looking forward to more.

[Kev B]

Just caught up with this, loving it.

[bobAlike]

Hooked again, great read Alex.

[RED-DOG]

I feel like a kid with some Lego listening to Christopher Wren.

[Karabiner]

Excellent stuff Alex - looking forward to many further installments.

How did your most recent trip to LA go - I didn't see you on any of the streamed games.

[cambridgealex]

In July 2017 we got married and she fell pregnant with Daniel soon after. In January 2018 I got on the housing ladder, a two bed flat in Buckhurst Hill near Epping Forrest. A particularly proud moment, a goal I’d always strived for, but mere days after moving in, I  remember wanting more - a house, more bedrooms, a garden etc. I was hungry, ambitious, greedy, even. I’d used up a chunk of my roll for the flat though so it was going to take a while to rebuild…

I then proceeded to have the best two years of my career by far.

The palm games got better and better, and in addition, several really juicy spots presented themselves:
- I got invited to play two big stream games at DTD.
- Nik P invited me to play a series of games with a Saudi Prince.
- A Gambian gambler called Gambia turned up and destroyed us at 6 card PLO day after day, until eventually losing it all.
- A scammer who called himself Joe King turned up and we played huge short handed for a while.

DTD Tricket Invitational, £125k buyin 100/200

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Gambia in the Palm Beach

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Joe King in Aspers, Stratford

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All four spots would make good posts in themselves. (I may have already told the Joe story here?). I couldn’t say that I god-moded any of these spots, but I always won a healthy amount, and seemed to never ever lose in the regular games at palm. The private game was going well for most of this time also. It was simply two years without a downswing.

By 2019, the private game had started to go downhill. I was giving occasional seats to palm regs to keep the peace and this was making the games too tough, people were refusing to come if two pros were in the game, and also all the KYC stuff was meaning people couldn’t withdraw money - they all just ended up going to the rival private game. In the spring, two of the guys from the game approached me and said let’s get our own flat and do the game there instead, away from the rules and regs of the palm. I asked Charlie's permission, and to my surprise she said yes. She knew everyone was going to the other game anyway, and at least this way she can have some say / control over the goings on. Besides, the other two would have found someone else to partner with and do it anyway if she/I said no. The rule was that only existing private game players could play it, or players recruited outside of the palm. June 2019 we signed a lease and Nik, myself and two others (one of whom dropped out quickly) began a new partnership.

It struggled to gain momentum, and because I was running so good, and was a pro, my position was always questioned. My job was providing the liquidity (the game was all done on credit) and to do all the admin, but pressure was starting to be put on me to find players also. They other two didn’t care about my promises to Charlie and I was constantly toeing a fine line keeping both sides happy. There were so many grey areas like people that had been to palm once, or years ago, or that Nik had known for years but also played at palm sometimes. I was guilty of trying to have my cake and eat it too. I always asked Charlie’s permission but even though she said yes, there was one case in particular, where I knew was crossing the line. And this just happened to be the one who grassed and told all the palm regs I’d invited him. Gabby Agbonlohor of all people!

I’ll always remember that moment and feel guilty to this day. You could say I was just maximising my own opportunities but at the end of the day, my greed had cost me friendships - and although they’ve mostly been since rebuilt - I still bear that guilt and regret how I acted in that time.

I finished 2019 in incredible style, completing the perfect year of 12/12 winning months, on 30th December in Latvia playing 200nl on stars with AA vs KK on AKxxx to give me a £180 winning month

Then Covid happened which changed everything forever...

[cambridgealex]

Some of my best pals, my Wedding day July 2017

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Palm regs during the "climbing" phase

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Becoming a Daddy, June 2018

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First steps, June 2019, Lisbon

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I'll give you the year, 2019. Guess the match.

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[tikay]

You should make this whole thing into a book Alex. Seriously.

[cambridgealex]

Excellent stuff Alex - looking forward to many further installments.

How did your most recent trip to LA go - I didn't see you on any of the streamed games.

Yeh I only got to play once unfortunately, and lost! More on that when the timeline catches up in a few days!

[cambridgealex]

You should make this whole thing into a book Alex. Seriously.

Autobiography?

I'll win the main, quit in a blaze of glory and do volunteer work for the rest of my days and write it

[iangascoigne]

So good to see this diary again.

[cambridgealex]

Covid changed everything forever. February 2020 everything shut down, my partners and I gave up the flat and I spent lockdown 1 with Viktorija and Daniel by the seaside in my Mum’s holiday cottage in Suffolk.

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Daniel got a nice lockdown homecut

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It was really quite nice, but of course I only thought it’d be a temporary thing. Instead of getting sick at poker (I’d slacked off massively from about 2017) and playing tons online like everyone else did, I learnt to code.

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I loved it. It was really challenging but rewarding. Constant problem solving and puzzle completing. I love how it all fits together and if written properly, can never break. I started learning visual basic to build a powerhouse spreadsheet for the private game. Then that lead to python and then eventually to swift for iOS Apps. I released three apps publicly, a Poker Results one, a Quiz one and a Poker Flips one. Very proud of the first and third, but I never made any real effort to market them - that side of it never grabbed me, so they’re not making any money but it was certainly a fun hobby and productive use of time during the lockdowns. I still use the skills for various poker study bits and bobs. Probably would’ve been better to get good at tournaments but heyho.

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We also found our dream home and completed and moved in June 2020. No feelings of wanting more this time - this felt like enough, still does. Daniel’s school is a 10 minute walk away, it’s equidistant between my parents, my brothers, central London and surrounded by a meadow, farm, playground and epping forrest. A decent garden, and lovely community of neighbours. We’re so happy here.

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After lockdown one, my partners and I found a new flat and fired up the games again. This went pretty well this time around, and my personal heater continued during July and August, and I put all that money back into bitcoin, replenishing my stock after using a chunk of it for the house. I guess average purchase price of around $13k and it shot up to $70k by October 2021 - incredibly lucky timing to run good at just the right time to catch the wave. I wish I’d sold more at that time of course! 

Sadly, very sadly in fact, The Palm Beach never reopened the poker room. The demands placed on them by the Gaming Commission for people to prove their source of funds just became too high and apparently over half the regular playing pool wouldn’t be able to pass the new thresholds. RIP most of my income.

So I was allin on the private game. We faced stiff competition from two other bigger outfits (Chelsea and Knightsbridge) who had more resources to splash on nicer venues, more partners to assume bigger credit risk, and didn’t have any decent pros in their games. I limited my own game time massively, and by 2021 was barely playing in my own game! We were still struggling and in August 2021 we decided to partner with the Chelsea game and share venues, players, admin etc. It seemed like a good idea and things went really well - together we were really strong. But more partners meant less control and even less gametime for me. I did my best whenever I played to play crazy and be good for the game, but what I’ve learnt is in that business no matter how hard you try - as soon as you start to win, they want you out.

They just want losing players. Whatever people say about “giving action” or being “good for the game” essentially what it means is you have to lose, otherwise you’re not welcome.

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Over Christmas 2021, the Knightsbridge outfit offered to merge with us both, to create a monopoly. Talks went on behind my back and essentially I was told on January 4th 2022 (My birthday lol) that this deal was going ahead and there wasn’t a place for me.

“You’ve won enough haven’t you?”. RIP rest of income.

It’s a cutthroat business, not a nice one at that - where skillsets like schmoozing, being fake, ruthless, slippery, deceitful are rewarded.

It never suited my personality - I just acted professionally, I was friendly but never tried to make friends unnaturally with people - recruiting wasn’t my role nor my skillset. I did my spreadsheets, sent out my texts, paid people on time and acted professionally. I don’t harbour ill feeling towards anyone - I was a victim of circumstance, not a target.

It was a huge blow though. I took 2 months off and went travelling with the family. My motivation from then on was “I’m going to make sure I look back on this and be happy that it happened”.

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[tikay]

Fascinating stuff, this is a whole world of which I knew nothing.