Poker Media Mid Life Crisis

[DaveShoelace]

If you got to the November 9 and had 750k locked up how many people would you fly out I Vegas?

Lol, least balla answer ever coming.

Probably just the missus and two mates, and deffo get Jared as a coach. If I had a half decent stack I'd get a few guys from PokerStrategy out there, but I wouldnt really have a rail. I love the rails at the WSOP but Tbh if I played the main, it would be because I had won some sort of media freeroll, that's the only feasible reason why I would. So I would probably be laddering at this stage expecting to come 7th at best, so I wouldn't be splashing out big.

Such things I can't even really imagine these days, my aspirations as a player really amount to wanting to play in a few fun events of the APAT/SKY/DTD deep stack size and wanting to be competent enough that I might be able to make the most of some run good if I ever get a freebie seat into a tournament because of my media connections.

Still love the game and love to play, but my grinder days are over. I worry sometimes that I am probably not playing enough to stay in touch with the game long term, and I do want to play more, but it's hard to commit the time because there are so many things I want to do in the industry work wise.

[DaveShoelace]

That said I do have a lot of US and Vegas based player and media friends, so I think I could probably get a reasonable rail if I begged.

[rfgqqabc]

Avid reader, really cool diary, not read either book yet but always recommending it out lol.

I'm a huge tommy Angelo fan I'm presuming you've read his books as a competitor? Thoughts? I emailed him once age 17 should have forwarded the story of getting elements of poker at a school prize giving, he would have enjoyed that. I'm working through both books very shortly, blonde and the internet are awesome for being able to talk to people like yourself and pads. Is there anything you regret not doing or an opportunity you turned down?

[DaveShoelace]

Avid reader, really cool diary, not read either book yet but always recommending it out lol.

I'm a huge tommy Angelo fan I'm presuming you've read his books as a competitor? Thoughts? I emailed him once age 17 should have forwarded the story of getting elements of poker at a school prize giving, he would have enjoyed that. I'm working through both books very shortly, blonde and the internet are awesome for being able to talk to people like yourself and pads. Is there anything you regret not doing or an opportunity you turned down?

Tommy is great, he and Jared are good friends, in fact Jared interviewed Tommy for his podcast (below). We actually thank Tommy in the acknowledgements of our book for paving the way and making a book like ours possible.

The big difference really is Jared is purely about performance, he is essentially a sports psychologist and doesn't play himself. Tommy on the other hand is a poker player. Tommy doesn't have the qualifications or coaching experience that Jared does, but Jared doesn't have the playing experience Tommy does. I think Elements is a much broader all around poker book and talks about hands, game selection and other stuff, ours concentrates exclusively on performance. I'd recommend Tommy's book to most players, I'd recommend ours to people looking to make a specific mental improvement. I think a new player would get a lot out of Tommy's book but not ours, I think you need to be an experienced player to benefit from our books.

Would love to get your thoughts on our books after loving Tommy's so much. We know Tommy has a very loyal fanbase and although the two books disagree on some things, I actually think they complement each other quite well.



Regret - I honestly don't really have any major regrets. That's not because I make great decisions simply because I have always been quite good at brushing myself off and moving onto the next thing and not looking back. In terms of opportunities I turned down I have twice turned down a huge poker job for double my wage, because I know it would have made me unhappy, the hours would have been immense and I would have been on the road way too much - I've never thought 'what if' on that at all.

[vegaslover]

Dave, do you still play poker? if not would that be a hobby to pursue again.

Any old hobbies you stopped doing when you were younger that you would love to have a crack at again. Football  and cricket for me. Haven't played either for years due to a young family and the shifts I work

Online poker, no. I used to take it very seriously indeed but after book+black Friday+my dad passing away I honestly have never really wanted to do it again.

Live poker, yes. I love it more now than ever. The difference is I play for fun now and used to play for money. It's just as well I play for fun because I think I'm probably a losing player these days.

I used to run a lot, pre poker, did a few half marathons.

I do have one new hobby in recent years, reading. I always have a book on the go these days.

Reading books is one of the biggest things I rarely do nowadays, spend most of my reading time on the internet, sigh

[RED-DOG]

Dave, do you still play poker? if not would that be a hobby to pursue again.

Any old hobbies you stopped doing when you were younger that you would love to have a crack at again. Football  and cricket for me. Haven't played either for years due to a young family and the shifts I work

Online poker, no. I used to take it very seriously indeed but after book+black Friday+my dad passing away I honestly have never really wanted to do it again.

Live poker, yes. I love it more now than ever. The difference is I play for fun now and used to play for money. It's just as well I play for fun because I think I'm probably a losing player these days.

I used to run a lot, pre poker, did a few half marathons.

I do have one new hobby in recent years, reading. I always have a book on the go these days.

Reading books is one of the biggest things I rarely do nowadays, spend most of my reading time on the internet, sigh

Read on the internet.

No need to thank me....

[DaveShoelace]

I'll tell you what grinds my gears, people who don't give you that little acknowledgment wave when you are driving and you do something courteous for them.

I pulled in a good preemptive 100 yards on a long narrow street that was double parked the entire way for this bloke and gave him the flashy flashy light and he went past, really slowly, and NOTHING.

Second most hated thing is when someone raises a single finger in acknowledgement from their steering wheel. That's almost like they are doing the bare minimum to recognise you did something for them.

Do love when someone gives you a thumbs up, or when a bus flashes their hazards when you stop to let them pull out at a bus stop.

Hate to say it, but women are the biggest offenders for blanking you when you do something nice.

[DaveShoelace]

Meanwhile it's a bank holiday in Gibraltar which means it is put your feet up time for those of us who work remotely for PokerStrategy (who are based in Gib).

Very weird place Gib. Its tiny, its sort of British, its sort of Spanish and they have monkeys.

[relaedgc]

The monkeys on the top of the 'Rock' are hilarious.

I remember the traffic that blonde used to get during the updates, and obviously being an employee for Grosvenor for going on seven years now I'll admit to a slight bias in that regard - but it always felt like the fact that people were running around and reporting on the event meant it generated interest and a following that it doesn't necessarily have.

It's very much the platform that's important, though. Admittedly, pokernews is quite a 'simplistic' design but it has enjoyed a good following and a reputation is built around it - but even then as mentioned I don't believe it has any of the community spirit that blonde has.

However, I think the DTD/Blonde union has meant an inevitable decline in the 'Live Updating' spectrum - which is a shame. Tower and Peekay work hard at what they do, but I've always preferred to actually read the updates because I personally find it more exciting.

Ah well.

[DaveShoelace]

The monkeys on the top of the 'Rock' are hilarious.

I remember the traffic that blonde used to get during the updates, and obviously being an employee for Grosvenor for going on seven years now I'll admit to a slight bias in that regard - but it always felt like the fact that people were running around and reporting on the event meant it generated interest and a following that it doesn't necessarily have.

It's very much the platform that's important, though. Admittedly, pokernews is quite a 'simplistic' design but it has enjoyed a good following and a reputation is built around it - but even then as mentioned I don't believe it has any of the community spirit that blonde has.

However, I think the DTD/Blonde union has meant an inevitable decline in the 'Live Updating' spectrum - which is a shame. Tower and Peekay work hard at what they do, but I've always preferred to actually read the updates because I personally find it more exciting.

Ah well.

PokerNews has a sexy design IMO. It looks simple but there is a hell of a lot that goes into it. They have just implemented a new responsive design whereby if you have the window half open you only see the updates, but if you have it full page you see all the other information like blinds/counts etc.

Its the medium sized events I think are being left out of updates. I think the small events like the Grosvenor Goliath, Sky, APAT etc there is still a market for some sort of stream/updates because the players are really excited to be there and tell their friends, and there is usually a community built within.

Then the big events like WSOP and EPT are events the railbirds give a toss about, so they have justifiable reason to update.

Its the £500-£1,000 events that are essentially the red headed step child. The GUKPT and Genting, and maybe even UKIPT. No really clear audience there imo.

[TightEnd]

However, I think the DTD/Blonde union has meant an inevitable decline in the 'Live Updating' spectrum -

It is just in different places George. I and others have scrimped and scrapped financially to update at GUKPTs amongst others for years, doing them as cheaply as possible, one person updates where the size of the event dictated 2 or 3 people, occasionally doing them as a volunteer too and DTD as part of the package fund them now, something the Grosvenor/some other operators never did (they were approached to do a deal), never would consider and probably (not referring to you) never really appreciated.

Even before the DTD union it just wasn't financially viable for us to update non-funded events, sadly

I miss doing them, fwiw. 

[relaedgc]

I beg your pardon.

In no way did I mean to imply that I am disappointed at the lack of them because you're not funding them out of your resources. My point, more so, was that I do find it somewhat saddening that the value of updating is not perceived by some of the operators.

Of course, it's also a lot to do with bureaucracy - which invariably DTD doesn't really have on the scale of the major operators.

It's just personally, I feel that there's a missing element to 'poker' as I see it from my perspective. Locally at Luton, and on the GUKPT tour. I think it created a buzz, it added some excitement and it generated a following.

I might try updating my £100 monthly - just to see how that works out.

[TightEnd]

I beg your pardon.

In no way did I mean to imply that I am disappointed at the lack of them because you're not funding them out of your resources. My point, more so, was that I do find it somewhat saddening that the value of updating is not perceived by some of the operators.

Of course, it's also a lot to do with bureaucracy - which invariably DTD doesn't really have on the scale of the major operators.

It's just personally, I feel that there's a missing element to 'poker' as I see it from my perspective. Locally at Luton, and on the GUKPT tour. I think it created a buzz, it added some excitement and it generated a following.

I might try updating my £100 monthly - just to see how that works out.

gotcha, I agree with you by the way. For your £100, facebook updates once a level, big chip leaders, exits, maybe some photos will soon get a buzz going for members of that group.

[DaveShoelace]

I beg your pardon.

In no way did I mean to imply that I am disappointed at the lack of them because you're not funding them out of your resources. My point, more so, was that I do find it somewhat saddening that the value of updating is not perceived by some of the operators.

Of course, it's also a lot to do with bureaucracy - which invariably DTD doesn't really have on the scale of the major operators.

It's just personally, I feel that there's a missing element to 'poker' as I see it from my perspective. Locally at Luton, and on the GUKPT tour. I think it created a buzz, it added some excitement and it generated a following.

I might try updating my £100 monthly - just to see how that works out.

gotcha, I agree with you by the way. For your £100, facebook updates once a level, big chip leaders, exits, maybe some photos will soon get a buzz going for members of that group.

Yeah this. Use the Facebook tagging feature where you type @persons name so all their friends will see and start a little rail going

[AndrewT]

Yeah this. Use the Facebook tagging feature where you type @persons name so all their friends will see and start a little rail going

No, don't do this.

If people want to follow how Player X is doing in a poker tournament they can choose to do so - don't spam their news feeds.