Old timers, whippersnappers.....

[TightEnd]

We all saw recently how the big final at the Vic was dominated by players of a "certain" age.... Bambos, Colin Kennedy, Kevin O'Connell, a gentleman connected with Blonde, to name but a few...

After reading Jen's report

http://www.blondepoker.net/cms/index.php?q=node/1566

and The Camel's comments in threads on this board  on the same subject


i stumbled across this blog

http://acehighwins.blogspot.com/2006/03/gutshot_27.html


and the first comment after the latest post was by professional poker player David Young 

He says

"A Norwegian friend of mine came over to play some big comps at the Vic last week and remarked on how bad the younger British players are. He said that in Scandinavia the older players are all broke because the new kids have sent them skint.

But in Britain, he reckons it's the other way around - the new blood are the value. I'm glad it's that way around!

DY"


The strength of the general point about the abilities of the young players outside Britain can also be seen when we look at EPT series 2 winners where with the exception of Jan Boubli in Barcelona the winners are

Mark Telscher
Patrick Antonius
Mats Gavatin
Mads Andersen
Mats Iremark
Jeff Williams

All of whom would be described as whippersnappers not old timers -  albeit two of the six are American.

Now I know it is difficult to generalise and I can straight away point to JP Kelly, James Adkin and Jen to help refute the argument. Ok..Bradley and Flushie too 

but what do you think...does the gentleman talking to David Young have a point?

If he does, why is this?

[matt674]

So what age group do "whippersnappers" fall into, what age group are you in if you are an "old timer" and is there a gap in between?

If so what are the remainder called?

[TightEnd]

Tweenies of course

lets say less than 25 years old, 25-40 and 40 plus and then tikay plus

[Graham C]

I don't really see what age has to do with poker.  I would assume that younger Scandies are generally have more of the personality aspect that comes in handy for certain things like poker and that even non poker playing people are of a certain personality.

[matt674]

and then tikay plus

<---------------gets out monkey abacus

So thats 2 red balls across 1 blue ball back plus 3 yellow balls across taking off remaining green ball.

HOW OLD!!! Wow.

Glad i fall into middle catagory, i'm not fresh meat for the whippersnappers of Scandinavia or the Old timers of the UK.....

[AndrewT]

I think that in Scandinavia, there were significantly fewer old-timers to begin with (live poker not as established as it is here) and more young guns so in terms of numbers the kids would be better placed to exact geriatricide.

Also, it could be argued that the good performance of the old-timers at the Vic was due to the structure. Online, we're not used to playing in tournaments where a roulette wheel is spun at the start of each level to decide how long the clock will be...

[mjrevie]

I think that in Scandinavia, there were significantly fewer old-timers to begin with (live poker not as established as it is here) and more young guns so in terms of numbers the kids would be better placed to exact geriatricide.

Plus, 2 points

- is it possible that in Britain the 'old-timers' have evolved with the game rather than standing still?

- Are the scandinavian 'old-timers' actually new players to the game, and then it becomes less to do with age and more to do with experience.

[Junior Senior]

i thought Jen and flushie were mid thirties?  

the game is definately changing - the young aggressive scandie move makers are certainly a different prospect to the granddad grinders of old like wernick and kendall  

There is more than one way to skin a cat though or in deed to win a tournament.  i think the Uk does have its fair share of good young players but i take the point that there haven't been too many outstanding results / perfromances by young brits abroad - obvious exceptions include Milkybarkid who has had great results in scandinavia and twice in monte carlo.

But cant think of too many other 'notables' - apologies if i have missed one.

[AndrewT]

It's not really an age thing, it should be split into those who were playing live poker before the advent of online poker, and those of us who learnt the game on the internet.

There are also more of the former here because of Late Night Poker - this got a lot of people into poker in this country a few years before internet poker really took off.

[Royal Flush]

All i have to say is go to an EPT event and just count the number of young Brits you could count them on 2 hands. Now do the same with young scandies, half the field, its of course obvious they will get results between them.

The best young players in the UK rarely play on the european circuit, they are happy sticking to the net. The scandies however go on a group holiday to an EPT and destroy it.

[totalise]

there's a band of young(ish) uk players that not many of the live scene players has ever heard of that would twiddle DY around on their little fingers and empty his pockets before you can say "cantankerous old goat", but instead of playing live they stick to the internet... adoring the anonymity.

All it takes is for one year of these people to decide to play live-poker, take it by storm, and then all of a sudden the UK will have one of the best youth scenes in the world, such is the fickle nature of redundant statistics.

Also. I expect that the reason why our older generation aren't broke, is that we probably have the best "older" players in Europe... so its naturally gonna be harder to send them busto, both because of their skill, and the depth of their pockets.

[matt674]

The best young players in the UK rarely play on the european circuit, they are happy sticking to the net.

 

i much prefer sticking to the internet...........oh wait - i didnt see the word young in there uh oh didnt see the word best either - this selective word reading disorder will get me into trouble one day!!

[The Baron]

All the talk among friends before the world series was "who will be the next big thing" or "how unlikely it'll be for the known faces to win bracelets with these field sizes".

WSOP Bracelets were won in record sized fields by:

Johnny Chan
Doyle Brunson
TJ Cloutier
Phil Ivey
Erik Seidel
David Chiu
Josh Arieh
Jennifer Tilly

Seems to me experience counts for everything in America at least.

[tikay]

The point is being missed here by some, imo.

The EPT fields, & thus results, ARE dominated by Scandies, but an EPT is a big thing to them, as thery don't have a Domestic Tournment Circuit to speak of.

We Brits, although many of us take it for granted, are extremely lucky, in that we have an absolutely fantastic Domestic Circuit.

Bring the young whizz-pop-bang Scandies over here, & the British Boys wlll send them home empty-handed.

Great thread, & welcome back Tighty. The break has done you good, your (creative) juices are flowing like flowy things.

[matt674]

Bring the young whizz-pop-bang Scandies over here, & the British Boys wlll send them home empty-handed.

Is that not what Englands ancestors said to the vikings many moons ago?