"The Downswings of Property and Poker"

[millidonk]

A bed for £175? is it made out of paper?

[Ice Shade]

A bed for £175? is it made out of paper?

[the sicilian]

Time for an update in a small downturn at work where it is absolutely manic and we seem to be in a real upswong of property prices and all types of properties flying off the shelves with some selling even before the details are done which goes back to early 2000's to 2007 all over again but is definately fuelled by a lack of overall property hence the old "supply and demand" with prices holding/increasing daily.

Here are a couple of articles about our local market
http://www.southendstandard.co.uk/news/10828895.Southend_is_UK_s_house_sale_hotspot/

http://www.southendstandard.co.uk/news/echo/10907644.House_values_soar__but_fears_of_a_property_bubble_remain/

Having finished our yearly figures and having been in this office for a full 2 years plus the initial 6 month consolidation period from when the team and I first arrived here we have now grown our business by 100% and turned over £400k this year with costs of £22k per month it still means a healthy overall profit for our boss and obviously means they have tasked us with closer to £500k this year as it is never enough!!

These two photos have meant that since the start of January I have really watched what I have eaten and tried to cut out all the crap I eat along with some gym visits although these need to increase as well.  The first one was taken in St.Kitts in November 2012 and I had trained for about 3-4 months prior whilst watching what I eat and the second was in Slovakia in December this year next to Petra's stepdad and will act as a reminder that there is a "fat man" inside of me waiting to get out plus with historical family heart history and the fact I am 40 this year I really need to commit to get fit but I have started this campaign by cancelling my David Lloyd membership as I am currently paying £85 per month not to go so if I dont go then in 3 months I will let it expire and if I go I shall retract said cancellation DUCWIDT!

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Ok enough of me here are a couple of photo's of the kids

Cousins ( The girl to Max's right is one day younger than him)

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finally for now I dont understand how this little one can go from this..

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to this in about 1 minute.

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She is still incred though even if she does not sleep like ever...

CALL !!!!!

[Eso Kral]

Had an interesting couple of days...

I binked my SECOND £1100 UKPC seat in a week on Weds evening in the £100 with Milli having scooped one on Monday in the same satty as Outragous

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It was a completely different tourney from the other night in terms of grind as I was top 5 in chips from 35 out and then just nicked pots here and there whilst waiting for the blinds to catch up with the shorter stacks but with 12 left Ivy woke up and as Petra was sleeping it took her a while to get out of bed and by the time she did Max had woke up due to the noise and made his way downstairs and fell asleep on me as we binked the seat.

At the same time as playing the sat I was watching Match of the Day having not seen the scores and placed this speculative "ice cream" punt for something to watch later on (sometimes it's good to be a punter) and with City tearing Spurs apart at the end it was great to see the replay of the 5th goal and immediately see the "FULL TIME" freeze screen come straight up.

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Yesterday Celtic drove over to ours where he met Petra, Max and Ivy Irl for the first time and can now confirm they are real people and we went off for a business meeting at Nando's with Max as Vinny is going to do some work on the leaflet business which should be good for him in a few ways and help us out at the start.  We should be off and running by the end of next week and I will post more on this soon along with photos of Vinny in his work-wear

It's not all good though as I bust my only bullet at the deepstack last night 3mins before the end of day1 and it was a grind all night as never got anything going early and flopped second best or not at all in many spots and then chipped down solidly from 35- 20 bbs before getting an amazing quadruple up at 5/1000 where UTG opens to 3000 and gets flatted by the CO and BTN and we have JJ in the BB and ship for 12.2k and obv as each of them call felt there is no way we hold in this spot, even less so when we see a xxK flop which got checked around and even less so when an off suit Ace came on the turn but on a low river everyone checked again and amazingly the pot made it's way to me.

I then 3b a UTG open with QQ and got flatted by the SB and the OR came along to see a puke flop of 1010Khh and the SB open jammed so I folded to leave me 10bb's and having jammed to just under 20bb's and 3 mins of the day left got it in 3b jamming A10 but this time he had KK andit was GG so next stop is UKPC although I may play the Genting Luton event next week if the required 2 evening pass (in before) out is granted...

[Eso Kral]

A bed for £175? is it made out of paper?

This is the bed tucked away in the room obv being balla this is the second double bed in the room

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And after one coat of chalk paint with another to come here is the next photo

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Lost a bit on the footie on Saturday but got a bit back on the superbowl last night before binking a £550 DTD seat and a GP seat on Ipoker last night so have binked £2500 worth of tourney entries within the past 7 days which means I am freerolling the UKPC now but will try and bink a UKIPT seat as well whilst I am running good.

Click to see full-size image.

[Eso Kral]

DTD Grand Prix and weekend in general!

Having made day2 of the GP with an average stack it was with the usual hope of a live bink that I headed up the M1 and arrived to be sat at one of the first tables to break so chipped down slightly before moving to a table where the bubble burst and then to the table where I would eventually exit.  I didnt run particularly well over the weekend but thats poker and cannot complain as having chipped upto 400k with AK v AJ AIPF I then lost 2 pots to shorties before at 10/20k the nice chap I mentioned a few pages ago who I now know as Michael Howard shoved the CO for 52k and I was left calling blind from 280k with 105ss losing to J6ss where we both flop a pair and 2 hands later he shoves again and we find AQdd on the btn and are up vs A6 and drawing to running diamonds or Queens on the flop before eventually losing my last 2.5bb with 68ss v 77 and AQ.

I also had a last longer with Arboy who sprung to blonde infamy in this drama http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48454.0 for £200 and he immediately doubled then I did and then I lost said pots and immediately wieghed him in so it was over to the super50 where I chipped up early, broke tables and then sat snug until at 1/2k with an average stack of 50k I lost 24k but won a 10k side pot with QQ v KK and JJ and then chip back to 45k and have 2 hands vs an absolute legend called James Morris who "sell spuds" but absolutely loves the game and was so funny in his demeanour and telling jokes that were old but still funny and it reminded me of how much fun people still have despite being in for £150.

He got lucky once and then unlucky to get lucky when we chopped 99 v 44 and then chopped again Aq v 88 on A52 3 4 runout before at 1500/3000 I lost all but 10k of my 35k blind v blind where I ship the sb with AQ and the bb snaps A8hh flops well on 569hh and rivered the flush, I then pretty much dbld shoving my 10k in with 910o and getting it through before with 5bbs had to do the fakelook ship utg and get looked up by the SB who flips "The Beltons" and I flip a blind 103o and flop 103K K 4 to exit thereby ending the live pokers till UKPC week next week.

Petra has been busy upcycling and here is the bed in place that I posted about last week.

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and her next project having removed the base of the old bed was to turn it into a train set table for Max

This was Friday


this was Saturday afternoon

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Sunday morning with chalk drawing and the train set done

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[Eso Kral]

Were are still so busy at work and selling all the new instructions at obscene prices, take this house for example last October we sold it for £340'000 but the vendors could not find so took it off the market.

Friday it came on for £360'000 and sold at full asking price over the weekend so a 6% rise from Oct to Feb!!!.

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Where I live in Leigh on Sea there is a landmark building called the "Grand Hotel" which has been derelict for about 8 years and just rotting away and is right on the entrance into Leigh on Sea Broadway

Here it was just as it was closing down

and here it is now

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It has now been bought by a chap call Mick Norcross of TOWIE fame and he is spending a few million on it having bought it for 3-4 million and turning it into a boutique hotel and spa.
MBN!!

[horseplayer]

lovely transformation of the bed mate

wish i had the ability/inspiration to do stuff like that easily

[Marky147]

Unlucky in the GP, but you're obv saving the rungood for the Sky comp.

Some tekkers by Mrs B on the bed, but would take far too much time and patience when there is an Amazon in the world

Didn't realise Mick Norcross had that sort of dough to throw about!

[Eso Kral]

I also had a last longer with Arboy who sprung to blonde infamy in this drama http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48454.0 for £200 and he immediately doubled then I did and then I lost said pots and immediately wieghed him in so it was over to the super50 where I chipped up early, broke tables and then sat snug until at 1/2k with an average stack of 50k I lost 24k but won a 10k side pot with QQ v KK and JJ and then chip back to 45k and have 2 hands vs an absolute legend called James Morris who "sell spuds" but absolutely loves the game and was so funny in his demeanour and telling jokes that were old but still funny and it reminded me of how much fun people still have despite being in for £150.

Standard Eso rungood in that after I had weighed in the £200 last longer to Arboy aka Mark Wilson I forgot we swapped 20% in the Superduper £50 and only just checked how he got on as when I busted in 50th or whatever he was also bowling along but those betfair sng days have not left him and just saw that he finished 2nd.  I dont even care if he grims me having chopped it!!

Pay up Arboy at UKPC  oioi

[Eso Kral]

lovely transformation of the bed mate

wish i had the ability/inspiration to do stuff like that easily

Unlucky in the GP, but you're obv saving the rungood for the Sky comp.

Some tekkers by Mrs B on the bed, but would take far too much time and patience when there is an Amazon in the world

Didn't realise Mick Norcross had that sort of dough to throw about!

@Horsey - yeah she does really well with that kind of stuff, its just the time it takes to do it but the bed was 2 afternoons and Max's table 1/2 a day.

@Marky - neither did I but either reality TV pays well or he has had his fingers in a lot of pies!!

[sonour]

DTD Grand Prix and weekend in general!

Having made day2 of the GP with an average stack it was with the usual hope of a live bink that I headed up the M1 and arrived to be sat at one of the first tables to break so chipped down slightly before moving to a table where the bubble burst and then to the table where I would eventually exit.  I didnt run particularly well over the weekend but thats poker and cannot complain as having chipped upto 400k with AK v AJ AIPF I then lost 2 pots to shorties before at 10/20k the nice chap I mentioned a few pages ago who I now know as Michael Howard shoved the CO for 52k and I was left calling blind from 280k with 105ss losing to J6ss where we both flop a pair and 2 hands later he shoves again and we find AQdd on the btn and are up vs A6 and drawing to running diamonds or Queens on the flop before eventually losing my last 2.5bb with 68ss v 77 and AQ.

I also had a last longer with Arboy who sprung to blonde infamy in this drama http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48454.0 for £200 and he immediately doubled then I did and then I lost said pots and immediately wieghed him in so it was over to the super50 where I chipped up early, broke tables and then sat snug until at 1/2k with an average stack of 50k I lost 24k but won a 10k side pot with QQ v KK and JJ and then chip back to 45k and have 2 hands vs an absolute legend called James Morris who "sell spuds" but absolutely loves the game and was so funny in his demeanour and telling jokes that were old but still funny and it reminded me of how much fun people still have despite being in for £150.

He got lucky once and then unlucky to get lucky when we chopped 99 v 44 and then chopped again Aq v 88 on A52 3 4 runout before at 1500/3000 I lost all but 10k of my 35k blind v blind where I ship the sb with AQ and the bb snaps A8hh flops well on 569hh and rivered the flush, I then pretty much dbld shoving my 10k in with 910o and getting it through before with 5bbs had to do the fakelook ship utg and get looked up by the SB who flips "The Beltons" and I flip a blind 103o and flop 103K K 4 to exit thereby ending the live pokers till UKPC week next week.

Petra has been busy upcycling and here is the bed in place that I posted about last week.

Click to see full-size image.

and her next project having removed the base of the old bed was to turn it into a train set table for Max

This was Friday


this was Saturday afternoon

Click to see full-size image.

Sunday morning with chalk drawing and the train set done

Click to see full-size image.

Hi Rich,

Thanks for posting the link to the Blatch case. I had heard of it but really enjoyed reading the detail.

[blueace]

Hope 2014 is a good poker year for you Rich, Got a property related question. Has your agency got involved with 'Agents Mutual'. Do you think this is at last a genuine force to break the mono/duopoly or Rightmove and Zoopla? (so we can see prices at a fair level). I guess on your business levels it doesnt really matter so much, but its the principle of feeling you are being scammed every year by the big two that grates. I used to get a massive discount from being part of the c/w network now Im paying through the nose.

[Eso Kral]

Hope 2014 is a good poker year for you Rich, Got a property related question. Has your agency got involved with 'Agents Mutual'. Do you think this is at last a genuine force to break the mono/duopoly or Rightmove and Zoopla? (so we can see prices at a fair level). I guess on your business levels it doesnt really matter so much, but its the principle of feeling you are being scammed every year by the big two that grates. I used to get a massive discount from being part of the c/w network now Im paying through the nose.

Cheers Sean and the same to you obviously.

I always really struggle to see how anyone could come into the market place and rival Rightmove despite Zoopla movng upto number 2 from a standing start in a short space of time so would be sceptical of it.  The power that RM have in particular is massive and we only advertise on RM and hold down a massive market share in our town despite all our competitors advertising on all and sundry portals and tbh we prefer to spend our money on marketing/branding and awarness rather than inferior portals.

We may lose the odd bit of business to people who beleve that findaproperty will bring their buyer but win loads more showing people how many pages we take in the paper and how our details are presented etc etc.

Our R/M bill is massive though and it keeps going up and up...

[blueace]

Hope 2014 is a good poker year for you Rich, Got a property related question. Has your agency got involved with 'Agents Mutual'. Do you think this is at last a genuine force to break the mono/duopoly or Rightmove and Zoopla? (so we can see prices at a fair level). I guess on your business levels it doesnt really matter so much, but its the principle of feeling you are being scammed every year by the big two that grates. I used to get a massive discount from being part of the c/w network now Im paying through the nose.

Cheers Sean and the same to you obviously.

I always really struggle to see how anyone could come into the market place and rival Rightmove despite Zoopla movng upto number 2 from a standing start in a short space of time so would be sceptical of it.  The power that RM have in particular is massive and we only advertise on RM and hold down a massive market share in our town despite all our competitors advertising on all and sundry portals and tbh we prefer to spend our money on marketing/branding and awarness rather than inferior portals.

We may lose the odd bit of business to people who beleve that findaproperty will bring their buyer but win loads more showing people how many pages we take in the paper and how our details are presented etc etc.

Our R/M bill is massive though and it keeps going up and up...

I hate the feeling of being scammed each year and I hate the fact that they have a hold on me. I dont use Zoopla, and binned all the various other sites over the years. So I have committed to the Silver option on Agents Mutual on principle more than anything. Certainly the blurb makes it all seem possible... It may just be that it puts a stop to Rm's constant price hikes. That would, for me, be worth the extra spend.