lil dave's lil life

[SuuPRlim]

I heard on the grapevine there is a 6-Max festival at DTD from 19th to 23rd August.

At the last one, Mr J Duthie sat in the PLO cash games. That man has quite an opening range.

Oooh, just as I get back. Nice.

[BorntoBubble]

made me chuckle on a Friday morning.

[SuuPRlim]

The post-paphos spin up!

So,home from paphos with literally every available line of credit at the max, my parents still under the impression that my poker winnings were more or less in tact, hence why there was no rush to "get a job" I really needed to generate some cash from somewhere, with a sheepish return to the sports shop looming behind me...

Word had reached me the manhatten club, the snooker club we all started playing poker, was in the market for a table tennis table...I owned a table tennis table, bought during secondary school with my illicit "tuck-shop" profits, and quickly reached a deal of £150 with Ray. You might be forgiven for thinking that given i had zero money in reserve and hadn't even delivered the table yet, going to the casino and gambling with all of it was un-wise, but as the old saying goes... "HE WHO DARES"

Not wanting to be completely foolish I put £10 petrol in my car and then sat £1/£2 with the whole £140...I can''t remember anything about this game at all, except that Marcin was in the game. I finished that night with £620, took the loose £20 to roulette which promptly turned into £200, so the roll now stands at £800.

Next day i went into town to the William Hill and put £100 onto the online site - remember at this point my bank account is off-limits as im over my overdraft - this quickly become £500 and after treating myself to fish and chips I headed back to Alea, where I kicked the night off y playing blackjack, and winning some before playing poker and winning some more...next day I played online again, won some more, then back to the casino, where I came 2nd in the tournament, then straight into the cash game and won more still.

Wasn't even done that night either, Kieth the taxi driver (everyone round leeds will know who i mean) wanted to go to gala and play shoot the pot, which ofc I did...again I don't remember anything about any sessions this weekend...except that for virtually the whole weekend, Marcin was there, lol.

Pretty sure between Friday and Monday i'd managed to spin up to somewhere around £2000, I paid into my bank £600 ish to get me use of my bank back and stop getting charged on my overdraft (we will leave the credit card for now) now, with £1500 I decided it was time to move up to "the big boys game" a legendary game in Leeds known as "Faz's game" all the big hitters were in Faz's game, and in the £1/£2 and 50p/£1 games I was playing whispers about who was winning or losing in the big game were always rife... But now I have £1,500 I thought, it's time for me to be a big hitter

The first time i walked in I was greeted by Faz, a cheery(very short) Iranian guy dressed immaculately with a bow tie and offered a seat immeadiately, I looked around and saw Lawrence Gosney, who I'd had a few previous meetings with (more LG stories to come I promise) Matt Haycox (later to become one of my best friends) Tony "Music" Milan who plenty of you will know, "fat" Paul - a really lovely older fellow who unfortunately died a few years later, and a collection of others, including "Moose" who anyone from leeds will have encountered (basically he looked a little like a moose, lol)

Again I don't remember any hands from this game, except calling a big buff from Moose and winning, and being heartily congratulated by Tony afterwards. I won around £1000 I think, and played Faz's every night it run for the next 3 weeks, and at the end of this lil period I had paid off the credit card and had almost exactly £11,000 in the kitty - GO ME

One quick hand I do remember from the spin-up... (I blogged this one before 100%)
£5/£5 at Faz's and the roll is ~£3500 and im in for the whole lot (it's not going well) then with some amount in front over £1k (really cant remember exactly,but significant at the time,think maybe over £1500...) I play a pot with Gosney with Q9 vs JT on Q98, and turn a Q, to end up winning decent money that session.
The world just didn't wanna see my go broke!!

You prolly think that follow up from this story is that I spin the £11k into £400k in some elaborate way...well, actually no...and what happened next will likely surprise EVERYONE reading...

Well, no lol the VERY first thing I did was spend £1,000 on a watch (which I still have a LOVE to this day) but the next thing after that...

Any guesses?

[SuuPRlim]

Cracking start to the diary, got the potential to be the best ever, maybe not the longest but quite possibly the best.

Dave, do you still consider yourself a full time poker player or have you become more of a business man? (read that you had a restaurant somewhere I think). Do you/ will you ever play at the sort of levels you were playing before?

I do still consider myself a proffesional gambler to a certain degree yes, over here in Cyprus I've felt more "pro" than I have in a long time, and actually I've found my passion for gambling kind of restored out here. Because it had been going badly, and I was always distracted by this and/or that outside of poker I'd really kind of lost all enthusiasm for it... I went Moorman's stag do and Stu, his non-poker friend said "Am I the only one here who isn't a professional poker player?" and I said "I'm not!" and actually kind of meant it too.

I really want to branch out further though and the businesses I am involved in help me there but don't really generate money enough for me to leave pro gambling, not that I really want to, I just don't want to get into my thirties and still be sweating the turn of a card as to whether I can take my family on holiday. Getting into a pretty serious relationship for the first time swayed my perspective a bit too, my primal instincts are to protect and provide and I don't ever want to have to say "cant provide today, it was a club on the river...we really didn't want it to be a club" so I am looking hard to expand my interests. I had a huge financial commitment to my Mum and Dads house which has JUST now been resolved so now I no longer have that burden I can start to think about this side of things more... Who knows where I go?!

Will I play the same levels as before...it's unlikely i'll ever play such high stakes as I did, I played out here $100/$200 PLO which is as big as I've played in a long time, and with a smaller % of myself too, my appetite for risks along with my ego has subsided quite considerably over the past 2 years, and the climate of games now is different too. Before it was quite ok to shoot it at $25/$50 and $50/$100 online as the games lower were very beatable and always action, you could think "I shoot with $X and once I lose it, go back to lower" and  then you would recover the money you lost in OK time and then in a few months later maybe have another pop, the upside to it going well was huge, as you would then have the BR to shoot at soft nosebleed games, and if that goes well then its GAME OVER

Now though, losing $30k at high stakes is close to a disaster, if it's a shot, you could spend months and months trying to get that back at mid stakes and if you DS then you might have to drop even lower and with the rake and standard of the games going up this is a monumental mistake, this is turn makes mid/hig stakes 5.10 for e.g so tough, as guys who are plenty good enough to be going for it at 25/50 just don't bother, because the risk is too big, and with the fact the guys at nosebleeds now are so fucking good (and you're gtd 4-5 of the best at every table that runs thanks to seating scripts) the upside of getting a shot at the big time isn'teven really there unless you genuinely have the BR/risk compulsion to gamble big.

So my days of high stakes on the internet are long gone, 5/10 max i guess. Live, who knows, I can always be tempted back ...

[celtic]

Would you ever consider living abroad permanently? If so, where. If not, why not?

[Young_gun]

Thanks for the response, suprised you would remember that??it has probably happened on several occasions, Either that or nice bluff Although i am quite memorable and look a bit older than people would think as Young_Gun (27 years going on 40 look wise defo not act)

 

I prob would have called if i wasn't going back to the tourney, i remember popping back from the break and losing about a 1er overall so wasn’t too painful. Defo was a fun atmosphere and i was very drunk most weekend(standard) so its a bit vague but you come across good fun and a good lad...

 

Hopefully see you around some other time as not around for UKPC and recreational player so would have to commit to qualify! I do try to get to DTD at least a couple times a year so you never know or London/Kent area

 

Fave PLO/NLH Hands?

 

Biggest bar tab you have ever picked up?

 

I used to follow old blogs but dont really remember much so well start fresh looking forward to this GL

[rfgqqabc]

You seem to be a lover of the game but if someone offered you 1m a year as long as you never gamble. Do you take it?

I find myself in a somewhat weird position where I like grinding because it's fun to me, and the positive financial aspects are largely a bonus. Would you pursue a similar lifestyle if the rewards were halved? Quartered? How much does money really mean to you? I'm fairly sure it doesn't have a direct relationship to my own happiness but it seems like a cash game grinder is working a more traditional job.

If Plo was banned what would your game of choice be?

How much has the most winning poker player won? Purely through poker play or staking not including opening sites etc

Can you remember our poker billionaire conversation? Still think it's true?

The gambling world is much richer for you being dragged out of retirement.

[JohnCharver]

great diary, thanks for posting.

[RED-DOG]

Well, no lol the VERY first thing I did was spend £1,000 on a watch (which I still have a LOVE to this day) but the next thing after that...

Any guesses?

Busto?

[sonour]

Dave,

Were you on the DTD bus back from the airport to DTD after the St Kitts trip ?

Thanks

[sovietsong]

Have to say I got pretty excited reading about that day of poker in Vegas even though I think I remembered how it ended!

Can you share some fun/memorable experiences of playing with the legend that is Laurence Gosney?

Ha, yes it was an exciting day, its funny how I remember the feelings of that day like it was 15 minutes ago, but cant remember details to save my life... Kinda like one of those out of body experiences where you live and breathe entirely on instincts!

Yes, yes oh yes I can share Lawrence Gosney stories and will be very glad to do so...However I've still not been to bed, and if im posting Lawrence stories then I simply must do them justice. I've known him since I first started playing poker in Leeds and he remains one of my favorite people till this day, a complete hero of mine.

So just hold that thought!!

Can't wait for this, played with him a good few times in my younger days & he always amazed me.  He was always talking, seemed to be barely paying attention & must have called my exact hand on no less than 5 occasions.

In the market for a nice Ford Focus, you got anything for me?

That ship has sailed. It was the best cut & shut I've ever owned...

[SuuPRlim]

Would you ever consider living abroad permanently? If so, where. If not, why not?

probably not no, I like it in Leeds, I have friends there I know people there, it's great value and nice and calm which is pretty much how i like things.

I'd live in the States for sure, I'd also live in Cape Town (I spent some time there as a teenager doing drama/charity work) and I guess plenty of European places (Paris, Barca etc)

TBH I'm pretty happy how I am.

[mulhuzz]

I don't think living perm abroad is something you can choose. It just kinda happens!

Typically expats leave either after 1 year, 3years, or never!

[SuuPRlim]

Dave,

Were you on the DTD bus back from the airport to DTD after the St Kitts trip ?

Thanks

I was on the St.Kitts DTD trip...I have no recollection of the transport too and from - so the answer is very very likely yes, but I just can't remember- funny how often I say that lol

What a fantastic trip that was.

[SuuPRlim]

Thanks for the response, suprised you would remember that??it has probably happened on several occasions, Either that or nice bluff Although i am quite memorable and look a bit older than people would think as Young_Gun (27 years going on 40 look wise defo not act)

 

I prob would have called if i wasn't going back to the tourney, i remember popping back from the break and losing about a 1er overall so wasn’t too painful. Defo was a fun atmosphere and i was very drunk most weekend(standard) so its a bit vague but you come across good fun and a good lad...

 

Hopefully see you around some other time as not around for UKPC and recreational player so would have to commit to qualify! I do try to get to DTD at least a couple times a year so you never know or London/Kent area

 

Fave PLO/NLH Hands?

 

Biggest bar tab you have ever picked up?

 

I used to follow old blogs but dont really remember much so well start fresh looking forward to this GL

ahhh no I wrote a decently long reply to this but i got called out for afternoon volleyball and deleted by mistake!

I do remember the game yes, I remember genuinely how you actually had the better of me in the pots we played - after you'dsaid you can't play with me!! The bluff at the end was a freeroll for me because you're not really owning me much more than you had already by calling and I get to show and have the last laugh if you fold

Fave hands, I did a blog on this with ones for different reasons so I'll try thing some new ones...

I remember a hand from bobbys room NL we were playing the 2-7 rule and I 3bet pf bet flop, bet turn and bet $16.5k OTR with the 7-2 vs a guy who hadn't folded a hand in seven hours...this hand always sticks out because he tanked for what felt like 45 minutes on the river and kept saying "he has 2-7 how can i fold" and eventually folds 3rd pair or something really weak...when i tried to turn my cards over to collect $100 each person (what a fkn moron i am!) I almost couldnt pick my cards up i was shaking so much - never been so fkn nervous in my whole life!!!

I also remember another hand from yrs back £1/£2 NL with Faz (Faz's game faz) and when Faz used to play these games the lower stakes guys would swarm to play. This one really horrible miserable guy waiting moody to get faz in a pot...the flop was 963 (something 9xx) and faz ships £900 into £30 and this guy snaps him off...runs off Q T this guy slams 99 down triumphantly before Faz flips KJo over!!! NEver saw that guy again, such justice!!

PLO it's harder as they are either huge brags or moans lol - I remember an $80k pot 3ways in Vegas once at 50/100 that got scooped by a pair of 4's, that was pretty hilarious.

Biggest bar tab I ever picked up one that is infinity huger than any other was on my best mate from non-poker's stag do, I flicked in a 20 hour degen stripcub session in Dusseldorf that ended up costing about £11k. I remember also me and Rutter (who was backing me at the time) chopped up a $14k XS bill once after some big wins but that was one of the best nights Ive had.

Hope to see you at this Sky thingy, and sure at some point after that it not !