Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015

NChanning

 Blimey. This is really hard. Still not too sure. Going to mull some more.

xxsill7xx

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015 : I asked elsewhere this morning about Con, & he's still around.   He is currently banned from The Broadway - not an unusual occurrence for him, he can get a bit excited - but still playing at Walsall. Mist be over 80 now, was on crutches last time I saw him. He was sometimes argumentative & cantankerous, but I find many old people are the same. Can't be doing with them, me.  
Posted by Tikay10

'Con' is still about and is often found at the Grosvenor casino (previously Gala) in Birmingham. He is on crutches and does struggle to get about now but he is still his normal self. He is the definition of a character !! 

Only last month i was on the final table with 6 remaining when Con bust out of the cash game. On his way out he walked over to the final table and shouted "Final table, go on fellas. Go for the win fcuk any deals go for your opponts throat" Then walked out of the building. Thanks for that Con

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015 : 'Con' is still about and is often found at the Grosvenor casino (previously Gala) in Birmingham. He is on crutches and does struggle to get about now but he is still his normal self. He is the definition of a character !!  Only last month i was on the final table with 6 remaining when Con bust out of the cash game. On his way out he walked over to the final table and shouted "Final table, go on fellas. Go for the win fcuk any deals go for your opponts throat" Then walked out of the building. Thanks for that Con
Posted by xxsill7xx

Yup, you got him.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

 Blimey. This is really hard. Still not too sure. Going to mull some more.
Posted by NChanning

Tell me about it, it's like a blanket finish in the Stewards Cup.

Winners are due to be announced on Friday, so we have all day tomorrow if need be.

As it happens, I am up in Leeds tomorrow. Going by train, oioi.

NChanning

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

300 words or more you say...that's a first as usually I am told to keep it brief! Poker for me started with a monthly home game with a fine bunch of fellows who enjoyed a drink, a laugh and a bet (and I mean besides poker - though if Mrs Abo is reading this I still maintain that poker is not gambling, well tournament poker for sure....) These games were fun and I did ok but were not so serious and were obviously self-deal as were the pub leagues I played. However my first real proper taste of tournament poker was joining one I'd heard about at the ‘’8 club’’   near Bank in the City of London. It was down in the basement and as I made my way down the many sets of stairs I had a sense of anticipation that rivalled my urge for a soothing cold lager to help with my pre match nerves. Little did I know it, but as I made my way down to the depths of the city, my poker journey had just begun. I’ve been there many times thereafter - the club I mean not the depths though poker can be a cruel game… Anyway I digress, back to the 8 club circa 2010...I entered the beautifully set out poker rooms clutching my cool Asahi, chose my card to denote seat and table and placed my bottle in the table drinks holder. I was very impressed with that for starters!   These were lovely tables - it felt like I was on TV!. We had proper dealers too - in fact our dealer was the lovely Gemma who was soon to be a star of UKIPT tour, first as a dealer but later as a tournament director. Dealer to the left, my beer to the right, now was the start of the tourney and time to show I indeed had the bottle for this live tournament malarkey. It was a fast played MTT with about 50 players. I was still very new to game and most others seemed to know a lot more than I did and were using phrases I had never heard...but whilst they kept commentating and occasionally cursing my card choices, I kept scooping in the pots. I also kept drinking … in fact at an impressively foolish rate that was faster than the structure! I think this all went hand in hand and was probably reason why I was getting stick for sucking out with the likes of ace 3 suited....mind you nothing changes here, fast forward 3 years later on my way to a decent UKIPT Bristol finish, I got so much abuse from George Clyde-Smith late on day 1 for playing the very same hand from the blinds (he had raised obviously and kept betting whilst I turned nut flush) that a very kind Mr Channing no less felt need to defend me at the table as I was berated and indeed he   later blogged about the incident - championing yours truly as someone who typified  the recreational game who just wanted to see a flop versus the younger more aggressive player in a hoodie. I can finally say thanks for that as I assume Neil will be forced to read all these entries. Anyway back to 2010...whilst I clearly was what I would now call a fish in every sense of the word (hiccup), I did have some sense of the game and indeed remembered liking my chances when I entered a three way all in pre flop with pocket 9s to see I was up against two holdings of AK. My 9s held and I was on the final table! I don’t remember much of what happened next but I do remember a lot of shaking of hands and then having the guy who invited me whisper in my ears - 'Andy mate, best practice is to tip them £100 or so...''. I'd won the blooming thing - £1470 quid less my £70 quid tip (I'm a scouser what can I say and it would have been rude not to leave a nice even amount!) I was straight on phone to the wife (that's all changed!) and we used the money to take the family to Centerparcs for the week. I have played quite a bit live since, even managed to bink one along the way at Aspers but nothing can compare to that first live tourney...I know that the Sky UKPC at DTD will be someone’s start in live tournament poker and I wish them and indeed   all who play in August the very best of luck – I’ll be the guy defending from the blinds with ace three of diamonds!
Posted by AB0151

 I remember that A3 hand very well. He was berating you and he didn't even know he was doing it, so ingrained it was in him. I'd bet a lot of money that if we cornered him at the UKPC he would totally deny that he did anything wrong. I was so glad I spoke up that day, if I can't do that then I'm sure lots of others will sit there quietly.

NChanning

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

    I’d been playing online poker for a few months when I plucked up the courage to try and play live. It was before the boom and it wasn’t as easy to know where and when to play. I looked online and found there was a £10 Pot Limit rebuy on in the Liverpool Grosvenor so dragged along a few mates one Tuesday and we made our way to the casino. To register that is, as we couldn’t actually go in until we’d been members for 24 hours. The following day I was all set to go, spending the whole day in a state of excitement. I’d only ever played a few home games against mates so playing live against randoms was going to be completely new. It started late, 9:30pm, and I’d taken the next day off as I had no idea how long it would last. Taking the day off also meant I could get my wages from my part time job a day early and I took it all with me.   The old Liverpool Grosvenor was the opposite of the ways I’d seen casinos portrayed in the media. Situated just off a main road in a pretty grim part of the inner city, it backed onto a semi derelict industrial estate. Nothing like the way Vegas looked on the TV. It was just next door to the Grafton nightclub, one of Liverpool’s less salubrious establishments and home of the infamous ‘grab a granny’ nights. At least I’d have something to do if I got knocked out early…   I had little to fear as the tournament wasn’t on. Inexplicably, we hadn’t checked with the casino itself and had instead looked at some outdated website to see what day tournaments were played. It was Thursday night when the £10 rebuy was on, not Wednesday. Undaunted by this, we had a look around anyway. It didn’t take long for me to find the table games. I played roulette for the first time, throwing chips on whatever numbers took my fancy. I lost. I tried Blackjack although I was irritating the other players with my complete lack of knowledge of (what I later learned was) basic strategy. I lost. Finally, we moved to Three Card Poker. I won! Then I lost. The whole thing had been a debacle. I’d done my brains in without even seeing a single hand of poker and now couldn’t afford to go the next day.    Still, I hadn’t given up on trying. One of my mates couldn’t go the following day for some reason, so we all postponed it until the following week. Armed with a fresh (but substantially reduced) wad of cash we got there nice and early and raring to go. I was still unsure about the necessity of rebuys at this point; the online site I played at (the now defunct Bugsys Club, if anyone remembers it) didn’t have any rebuys and the starting stack in all tournaments was 10k chips. If I got lots of chips then surely I’d be unlikley to need to rebuy much. After all, I was a pretty tight player.   We walked up the steps into the cardroom area to be greeted by the Three Card Poker dealer from the week before. When poker wasn’t on he was a croupier. A great sign there then! Shortly afterwards I heard one player swearing loudly and aggressively at another and started to panic. Still it was too late now, we were here. After registering and hanging around for the obligatory 15 minutes, I picked my seat number from a hat and sat down. There were three tables of players to battle past.   It was not like Late Night Poker in which the players appeared to have room between each other. The table was circular and had ten men, with varying degrees of personal hygiene, crammed around it. I looked at my chip stack and picked them up, turning them over and over in my hands while I waited for play to get underway. It wasn’t too difficult to do as I only had six chips. Four 100 denomination chips and two 50s. Yes, I had a starting stack of 500 chips or 10bbs. After 45 minutes a rebuy got you 5bbs. The blinds were unusual too, as the button and what would normally be the small blind both paid 50 each, there were no small or big blinds. I was still getting my head around this when I realised that there was no dealer and that one of the guys on the table had started shuffling the cards. I didn’t expect this either!    Yet once the game was underway I loved it. There was something about playing live against unknowns that was completely different from the home games I played in. The lack of booze was part of it! I played tight and waited for good cards. It didn’t take me long to realise that the majority of the players of Liverpool only had three words; ‘call’, ‘pot’, and ‘pass’. Almost all the bets that people made seemed to be pot bets. The chips were flying and the cardroom supervisor was running between the tables handing out rebuys. I managed to make it through the rebuy period relatively unscathed, spending extra only for an add on. Although the general air of the place was a bit miserable, there were quite a few players who were friendly. Several of them were referred to as being from ‘the same village’ and didn’t seem to bet against each other if they were in pots together. I knew this was wrong but everyone seemed to tolerate it and I didn’t have the courage to speak out about it. Ironically, they were the friendliest players there and were willing to laugh and joke about and reduced my nerves a bit.   One of them even advised me of quite ridiculous tell that I developed early on. You could smoke at the table then and I smoked a lot when I was nervous. As a result I was effectively chain smoking my way throughout the tournament. Apart from when I wanted to play a hand. Then I left my cigarette burning in the ashtray. One of the guys mocked me about having to light a new one everytime I won a hand and I realised what I was doing, although I don’t think I stopped it until I’d become more comfortable in there.   Only a few hands stood out that I can still remember now. One was being called on a board with trips by someone drawing to a gutshot when I had no pair. He won, obviously, or I wouldn’t remember it! Another that I wasn’t involved in saw an elderly Chinese man raise and at least three players commented that he must have aces. He still got lots of callers and got paid off at the end when he showed… AA. The other hand was after the rebuy period had finished and there were 11 or 12 players left. Getting to the final table was talked about like it was an achievement, even though it was only the top three who would be paid. I’d been quite solid throughout, having the goods all the time (aside from the one time above) when it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t bluffed anyone yet.   Only a weird logic can explain why I thought I absolutely had to bluff someone right then but I did. I remeber the hand quite vividly even now. I was dealt K2o with the Kc. I raised preflop and got a few callers. A rag flop with two clubs came down and I cbet (although at the time it was just an, erm, bet). I got one caller and the Ac gave me the nut flush draw on the turn. I bet again only to hear the dreaded word ‘pot’ come out of my opponents mouth. I had to fold but it ruined my stack and my confidence. I did make it to the final table but exited before making any money. The final was great though, the cardroom supervisor dealt and we played on a properly shaped poker table. Maybe that was why a big deal was made of it! I sat quietly and mostly folded but loved the atmosphere. The aggressive guy I saw at the beginning was there, and whilst he was big and loud I learned he was nothing to be frightened of really!   Despite its flaws I loved playing poker there and went back many times, sometimes going three or four times a week once they extended the schedule. I was gutted when it closed down!
Posted by Ranners

 That's a lot like the early memories I had. It was always weird to me that every club seemed to have totally different rules, some had the small blind on the button, some had three blinds, many had different ways of doing the chip race. It is amazing to think back how far we have come.

NChanning

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

Tuesday night, Derby casino, 8.30 p.m. Year 2000.   Having come straight from work, I’d just spent the last three hours  betting £2 a hand on the end two boxes, when a couple of Asian guys swept into the casino like rock stars, to the universal acclaim of all the dealers. Even John, the affable manager, whose booming baritone was usually reserved for “Eight Blaaaaack!” greeted them warmly. They approached the blackjack table and put a hundred pounds down each for change and placed it all behind my two boxes. Gulp. The dealer got a 7 and my first box was 14. “What do you want to do?” I asked them. “It’s your call kid.” “Card” It was a 6. “Well done” The second box was 16 with two eights. “I’d normally…” and before I could say “split them” two crisp fifties were behind the box. The first split was a 3, the second a 10. Again two crisp fifties floated behind the 8 and 3. A 10 dropped, the dealer made 17. They scooped their chips up and departed via a corner doorway I’d never seen anyone use before. “Where are they going?” I asked the croupier. “To play poker. Do you know how to play?” Well as a matter of fact, I did, playing 5 card draw at university long into the early hours, deuces and one-eyed Jacks wild. “Yes, but I couldn’t afford to play at their stakes.” “Oh no, it’s a tournament, it only costs £10 to enter, if you lose all your chips you can rebuy for another £10, but that’s up to you. You’d better hurry though, registration finishes in three minutes.” “How much can you win though?” "It varies, but first prize is usually £1,800.” Chips crammed in pockets, I rushed through the doorway and scaled the stairs two steps a time. A minute after registration, I was directed to my seat, from where I could properly survey my surroundings. It was a low-ceilinged, wood panelled room with ten tables shoe-horned into an area meant comfortably for five, with nine people crammed on each. Between the panels were murals of cowboy-hatted, wild-west gamblers, clutching aces and bottles of whiskey, adorned with bullet belts, revolvers on the table. I loved it. It’s no exaggeration to say that the room had a thick atmosphere, as the chain reaction of cigarette lighting combined to produce a heavy  fug, that suggested it would have been a good idea to take off the most absorbent items of clothing, like jumpers and jackets, but the arctic blast from the air conditioning scoffed at the very notion. There was a general cacophony of men berating ‘pigeons’ and ‘fish’ for previous bad play and outrageous fortune, set to the cricket-chirping background music of chip-riffling. One Chinese man on my table was perfectly halving his stack and rejoining it so adroitly that I thought , “God , he must be good. I’ll stay away from him.” I was sat next to an Asian guy who shook my hand and introduced himself as Rocky,“Your first time kid?” It was, but how did he know, and why, when I was 27, did everyone insist on calling me kid? A closer examination of my opponents would reveal that they were nearly all over 35, the average age being about 45-50. A secondary look would indicate what a broad, all embracing game this was, as long as you were over 18, nationality, religion, age and sex were irrelevant.  They even let people from Nottingham play. I was buzzing when they dealt the first hand, but then something strange happened; the dealer stopped after two cards. What’s this? I was so confused that I just folded and turned to my obliging neighbour and asked how we could play poker with just two cards. Rocky patiently explained to me the basics of Texas Hold ‘Em and the necessity of the flop and using one, none or both of your hole cards. This is too weird for me, “When’s the draw poker competition?” “There isn’t one.”   I endeavoured to fold every hand and just watch the action and hope to pick up what the hell was going on; this extended to me trying to fold the big blind when everyone had limped. Eventually, bit by bit, I began to piece together the process: bet on your hole cards then bet/check the flop, turn, river and turn them over. What I could not grasp at all though, was when I was supposed to act. I kept being told not to act “out of turn”, that the action was always on the player “to the left of the dealer.” But I was nearly always to the left of the dealer, I was in seat three! How could seat seven act before me? I was learning new languages. Words like rock, bad beat, gutshot, outdraw, tilt and backdoor acquired new meaning. A losing hand would be greeted by an “ay-yaa” from the Chinese, a guttural meshing of shs and tees by the Greeks and, from the Pakistanis, what sounded like a demand for a dessert from a valet called Serena. Everyone seemed to have a nickname. Their sweaters, suits and leather jackets were drenched in ostentatious gold jewellery and strong aftershave. I felt like I’d walked into a Mafia social club and I was the Donnie Brasco imposter. Then something remarkable happened. I won a hand. The feeling of relief and joy was so complete that I can’t even remember the hand or who it was against, or for what amount, but I’ll never forget that feeling, or the child like joy of assembling a colour coordinated tower. Then I proceeded to win some more chips, earning more slaps on the back from Rocky and made it to the end of the buy-in period, and then the break, when I arrived at a conclusion. I’d spent hundreds of hours at university and since then, frittering away tedious sessions playing blackjack, but within thirty minutes of this game I knew I was done with it forever.   Why play a game where you were stuck with the rubbish two cards you were dealt, when in this game you could throw them away? Why play a game where the worst hand always lost, when you could win with it through a bluff? Hold on though, why are the casino laying this game on for practically free, when there must be plenty of other players who’ve come to this conclusion too? My question was soon answered in the suspiciously generous break of forty minutes, when the card room was forcibly emptied and half of the players were blasting huge sums on the tables. Ah, they do know what they’re doing. Three hands in after the break, Jockey the card room assistant, who’d spent the previous hours rushing between players hoovering up ten pound rebuys, (applying a game theory optimal strategy by standing closest to Dave Smith’s table) approached me, “You’re moving tables mate.” “Why? What have I done?” I took my new seat, near a smiling Greek guy called Kim, “Does your mum know you’re here?” “No, and she’d better not find out or we’ll all be in trouble.” On my right was an older, pale, thin, bald guy with a large trench coat over a grandad shirt. Between hands he sang , “Novocaine for the soul” on a loop and spat indignant fury every time he lost a hand. People addressed him as Taffy. I raised with queens, Taffy called. The flop annoyingly came ace high, I checked, Taffy bet,   “Didn’t like that ace did you?” as he spoke, the exhausted smoke of his conveyer-belt roll ups gasped through his missing teeth. I passed, “Good fold!” he exclaimed, with a throaty laugh usually heard around a cauldron. I waited patiently and was rewarded with pocket aces, someone with slightly less chips than me went all in and he rivered a straight. The softly-spoken professorial gent on my left called Charles leaned in, “Hard Luck. You never forget the first time you lose with aces.” He was right. With hardly any chips left, I was soon out. It was 1.30 a.m. I’d just spent the last four hours in a fruitless pursuit, had lost money, reeked of smoke and work was going to be painful on only five hours sleep, and yet… I Knew I’d be back . And not just in the coming weeks or months, but next year and the year after that and for as long as I could imagine. “Next one’s on Friday, 9 O’clock, Kid,” Taffy cackled. “Don’t be late.” You bet I won’t.    
Posted by pheelio

 There is a guy in the Vic who still calls me kid when I see him. He might be two years older than me.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015 :  There is a guy in the Vic who still calls me kid when I see him. He might be two years older than me.
Posted by NChanning

That's me, right?

Tikay10

The judging process - which was SO difficult - has been completed now, & Head Office informed.

The results will be announced at 9am on Friday.

If you are unhappy with the outcome, blame Mr Ambo. 

On the other hand, if you like the results, I'm your man.  

Tikay10

The 2 winners will be announced at 9am this morning.

Tikay10

The 2 winners, who each win a £550 Sky Poker 6-Max UKPC seat are......


pr1nnyraid

Itsoverforu

Both those entries were outstanding, & they deservedly get the prizes.

In truth, Neil & I agonized for days, & we both had a short list of 6 or 7, so commiserations to those who failed to win - it was a blanket finish.  

Tikay10

See the two winning entries, & comments by Neil & myself, in Latest News, HERE

NChanning

 Really good standard of entries. Bad luck to those who didn't win but thanks for entertaining us. They were all really good. Hope to see some of you in Nottingham anyway. If you introduce yourself and you didn't win make sure I assure you that I wanted to give you the prize but Tikay insisted on those other two.

unknown_username

This comp has been a truly wonderful read. WP sky

AB0151

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015 :  I remember that A3 hand very well. He was berating you and he didn't even know he was doing it, so ingrained it was in him. I'd bet a lot of money that if we cornered him at the UKPC he would totally deny that he did anything wrong. I was so glad I spoke up that day, if I can't do that then I'm sure lots of others will sit there quietly.
Posted by NChanning

Thanks for this reply Neil. I saw him in DTD a year ago or so after his deep run in PCA and he remembered too and we ultimately had a good laugh about the whole incidnet and I think he realised error of ways. I guess I played up to my stereotype by dressing smartly as well as being north of 40 and he for sure played up to his. I'm playing EPT Barcelona main event on 25th and am tempted to put on my jacket/shirt look again versus all the young heroes as it was afterall a profitable scenario! I'm not sure if I can make UKPC but well done to the two worthy winners and good luck to all that play. Thanks again for taking time to reply Neil, means a lot. I will be sure to introduce myself next time we share a table be it in DTD or Vic. Gl Gl.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015 : Thanks for this reply Neil. I saw him in DTD a year ago or so after his deep run in PCA and he remembered too and we ultimately had a good laugh about the whole incidnet and I think he realised error of ways. I guess I played up to my stereotype by dressing smartly as well as being north of 40 and he for sure played up to his. I'm playing EPT Barcelona main event on 25th and am tempted to put on my jacket/shirt look again versus all the young heroes as it was afterall a profitable scenario! I'm not sure if I can make UKPC but well done to the two worthy winners and good luck to all that play. Thanks again for taking time to reply Neil, means a lot. I will be sure to introduce myself next time we share a table be it in DTD or Vic. Gl Gl.
Posted by AB0151

Hi ABO,

Good luck in Barcelona, & be careful when walking around town late at night please - Barca is notorious for muggings.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker Blog Competition 2015:

Quick note to "pheelio", who wrote about his NLH baptism in Derby. I won't comment on the quality of your blog until the winners have been results have selected & announced, as it might be deemed improper. However, I am pretty sure the venue was that Casino in Collyer Street Derby, next to The Pink Coconut. That was where I first played, too.   I recognized all of the names you mentioned. Some stories to tell there.   "Kim" would be Kim Constantiou, who was Pete Costa's brother (Pete changed his surname), & Maria "Chili" Demetriou's uncle. Kim was just about the nicest man I've ever met in poker, a true gentleman in every way. If you got all-in with Kim in a cash game & it was your case money, he'd always chuck £25 back, so you'd have the fare home & some money for supper. Unfortunately, he passed away in January 2013. I wrote an obituary for him - if you google "Kim Constantiou poker" you'll see it.     Dave Smith also passed away, some years earlier, but I still see his son Kevin from time to time. Taffy? Crikey, what a character he is. He's still around, but I believe he is currently unwell. That trench coat of his was crucial. He must be nearly 80 now.   Rocky & Jocky both endured some interesting times subsequently, but that's a whole other bunch of stories.  
Posted by Tikay10

I only became aware last night - because he is here, & we chatted that "pheelio" is an old acquaintance of mine, we have shared tables hundreds of times. If I had known it was him, I would not have bothered reading it.  

He's a Derby County supporter, incidentally. I knew him when he was a fine young lad, now he's middle-aged & pleasantly plump.

tomgoodun

Well done to both deserved winners and the very best of run good in the tournament.