The *official* "whatever happened to?" thread

[Marky147]

Not a blonde of course, but anyone know what happened to that brief shooting star Jimmy Fricke, aka "gobboboy"?

He burst on the scene big time but seems to have disappeared since around 2020 on the Live scene as far as I can see.

He's still in Vegas, but not sure if he just plays cashgames since the shutdown of 2020.

I follow him on Twitter, as he's always good for Vegas food recs

[cambridgealex]

Sean Belton.

He did a wonderful diary on here a few years ago, brutally honest and self-deprecating, such a talented writer.

I re-read it last week, it covered his attempt to make it as a pro poker player, his health, fitness and diet regime and his marriage to girlfriend Beth.

I was quite involved by the time he signed off somewhat suddenly around the beginning of 2014 and I wonder how things turned out. Did he become a graphic designer, a personal fitness coach, the head of MI5 or what?

It would be great to hear from the man himself but any update would be appreciated.

What was Sean's username on here? can't work out which one was his diary

Was this the Diary you were thinking of Keith?

This is P1 of 282 pages;


http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=65850.0

Sean is also a talented PT, I can say from personal experience - an incredible knowledge of his domain - thoroughly recommend if anyone fancies. We don't live close by so its all online and very good value.

[celtic]

Phil "Snatiramas" Cooklin?

Bought a property in Portugal.Currently doing it up.

How do you know these things?

Facebook Updates, it's actually been quite interesting I think. Bought some land and got it built rather than cheating and buying a ready made one. His partner updates regularly.

[The Camel]

Claw? Mantis?

[tikay]

Claw? Mantis?

Claw is in good nick, I was very touched to get a lovely Message from her recently after I polled up at DTD for an APAT event. Her Daughter (Hannah) is grown up now.

MANTIS sill reads the Forum almost every day, but only averages around 2 Posts per year these days. His last Post - just over a year ago - was a typically well-expressed & contentious view on the Garrett Adelstein J-4 thing. He wrote SO well, I much miss his input, ditto Tighty.

Here's the last post by MANTIS, this on the Garrett Adelstein/J-4 thing - such a typically enjoyable read. I mean, it's complete bollox, but it's wonderfully flowery bollox.



A fascinating read for sure but ultimately flaky. Lying about relationships and borrowing money isn't admissible evidence in this case m'lud.

The video footage is allowed. This shows so-called 'hand-signalling' which is seen as arm across chest with finger at full extension pointing at shoulder. If we think about all the ingenious ways to signal each other would we really use something so physically stark? I could take a sip from my drink and put it down on the left corner of the coaster for instance. I wouldn't be doing the actions from YMCA or Mo Farah's Mobot move.

Catching sight of something away from the table and mouthing "Get it" is evidence of the need to retrieve a signalling device on the floor? Or perhaps they ordered some Class A to enhance the evening's entertainment and Big Tony just turned up at the window. Kinda explains all the guilty looks and rambling chat.

The objective was to obtain monies by deception? This had been successfully achieved. So handing back £135k seems compelling evidence to the contrary. Plus the fella signalling to call with J4 must've had too much of Big Tony's merch. If this is a cheating ring it's all very keystone cops. Case adjourned at this time.

[booder]

Phil "Snatiramas" Cooklin?

Bought a property in Portugal.Currently doing it up.

On Facebook innit.

[Archer]

Archer?

How nice, I thought, you are missing me. Then I checked the date

17/18 Lost 3-1
17/18 Lost 3-0
18/19 Lost 2-0
18/19 Lost 3-1
19/20 Lost 3-0
19/20 Lost 3-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
21/22 Lost 5-1
21/22 Lost 2-1
22/23 Lost 3-1
22/23 Lost 4-1

8th October 2023
23/24 Won1-0
Ralph: "Where's Archer?"
 
  

[tikay]

Ha, too good.

[Marky147]

Archer?

How nice, I thought, you are missing me. Then I checked the date

17/18 Lost 3-1
17/18 Lost 3-0
18/19 Lost 2-0
18/19 Lost 3-1
19/20 Lost 3-0
19/20 Lost 3-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
21/22 Lost 5-1
21/22 Lost 2-1
22/23 Lost 3-1
22/23 Lost 4-1

8th October 2023
23/24 Won1-0
Ralph: "Where's Archer?"
 
  

Superb

[Claw75]

Claw? Mantis?

Dan (gatso) and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this year neither of us play poker anymore, but we do like our quiz shows. I was on Countdown in 2021 but ran into an eventual octochamp on my first game - Dan went on a year later and won 5 games and the coveted teapot! I also had an appearance on Mastermind last year. We're hoping to get on Only Connect (with Sheriff Fatman), but have yet to get past the application stage.

As Tikay said, Hannah is all grown up now and she and I will be hitting Vegas later this year to celebrate her 21st. We've also had a new addition to the family in the form of our lovely little Cavachon, Maddie, who will be two next week.

Work wise, I'm working full time from home (which is now Aylesbury) as National Complaints Manager for the country's largest provider of mental health services, and Dan is (don't get too jealous Tony!) a trainee train driver.

Overall life is pretty good.  Hope all is well with you and yours

[tikay]

What sort of train Claire? Underground, Overground, big ones, little ones?

PS - lovely photos, you are both ageing well. Think the last time I saw Dan was in the UK Passport Office somewhere in London.   

[Claw75]

What sort of train Claire? Underground, Overground, big ones, little ones?

PS - lovely photos, you are both ageing well. Think the last time I saw Dan was in the UK Passport Office somewhere in London.   

Big trains for Chiltern Railways

Thank you - I think Dan's aging better than me to be fair - he'll be 50 in a couple of months. I still have a couple of years to go

How are things with you? Are you married yet?

[MANTIS01]

Well I finally got married to Mrs Mantis. We had been officially engaged for just over 30 years. You can't rush these big decisions. We arranged the wedding for Verona and whilst this sounds somewhat romantic there's a fair few bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Naturally, I was left to deal with all the headaches because Mrs Mantis had more complex issues to attend to, such a choosing a dress and who the bridesmaids were going to be. We were set to pull the trigger in 2020 but then goddam COVID struck so it was all postponed, the following year it was postponed again.

Finally I made it to the altar last year. I was standing there at 6pm sharp feeling quite proud of myself. All the paperwork was complete and in order, I had arranged friends and family from all around the world to converge in Verona, I had my interpreter Giuseppe by my side, my little nephew Jack had the ring, photographer, honeymoon in Lake Como, everything paid for. I allowed myself to exhale and relax. However, it gets to 6:15pm and there's still no bride. I phoned the Mrs and politely enquired as to where the fuck she was?? Apparently she hadn't arranged a taxi and was struggling to get one. Marv! After Giuseppe explained that if she didn't arrive in 15mins the wedding was off I simply screamed RUNNNNNN down the phone. We have an amazing video of her and bridesmaids running through the streets of Verona to car horns and applause. She dipped through the door like Colin Jackson finishing a 110m hurdles at 6:29pm.

Workwise I left the world of TopGolf and Brad behind to join Pine Ridge Golf Club as General Manager and then managed Camberley Heath Golf Club. However, I do believe COVID impacted our psychology hugely and the fact that I dearly missed Birmingham is evidence of this. So I simply quit Surrey after 8 successful years and returned to the exotic delights of Brum. Felt great to be back home and landed a sweet job managing a lovely golf club 10mins from my door.  

Haven't played poker in about 2 years. In all honesty my natural habitat was the casino full of characters and those days are largely gone. However, I did flip open my brand new laptop and entered a Bigger $22 with 1,550 entrants to see if I still had it. I came in exactly 1st place and just dominated. Brought back all those great feelings and fist-pump memories. I was going to drop the mike there and then and wish I had. Next day I entered another and suffered such a horrendous bad beat it somehow caused my fist to smash my laptop to bits. Haven't played since then and frankly that strange emotional outburst means it's probably for the best.

Wish everybody on Blonde well.

[stato_1]

possibly not the right thread ,but am sure that some of you will be pleased to hear that the countdown champion, stato_1, who still posts on here a bit, shipped the sunday million for 100k+.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/10/andrew-hulme-big-pokerstars-bounty-builder-series-win-44759.htm

Cheers folks! Been trying to win the Sunday Million for 17 years now, nice to know it wasn't a total waste of time!

Also had a little girl - Matilda! Quite like her tbh!

[booder]

Congrats Mantis