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TK do you....
...have a slice of Mr Thew's action in the WSOPE? hope so! looking goood at the mo.
Dave
Dave
Comments
Lol, I could not possibly comment!
It's a little delicate to answer that, for complex reasons, but you can see a nice Interview with Thewy in this week's In-Poker.
I can tell you I have a piece of The Camel - Keith Hawkins - in the EPT, & I have - had, groan - a bit of Simon Aces Trumper in two WSOP-E Events.
I'l take the no comment as - good business is being done, one way or other
~Hope Thewy goes on to final table
p.s. why is Keith called the Camel?
A bunch of guys were at the bar & somebody mentioned his capacity to drink copious amounts of ale.
He said he did drink a lot, but he could go an age without drinking.
Some wise guy promptly named him "Camel" & it stuck.
He wrote a blog for many years - "The Camel Ruminates" - & it was one of THE best three Poker Blogs ever.
He used to be a big Live player, but he mostly plays Online these days. He plays Heads Up SNG's - hundreds of them, for BIG money. 'Stars no longer supports, or allows, Sharkscope, which is a shame in a way, as Camel's Sharkscope Graph was a thing of beauty.
He originally began work as an odds-setter/compiler with Red Square (work it out....), before turning to poker.
He's an absolute mad-raving QPR Supporter.
These days he lives near Darlington with his young lady - a farmer (!), & they have a Son, Jake, who is now about 5. Jake's first words were "RAISE".
PS - I have sent you a PM.
"It was during my first big tournament, in Amsterdam, that I picked up the nickname ‘The Camel'. During a break, at around 11pm, I rushed to get a pint and bumped into a friend, who had been propping up the bar all day.
"After a couple of lines about drink problems, I said ‘I don't have a problem, I can go days without a drink'. His reply was ‘well, you must be a ******* camel then'.
"I went on to make the final and Paul had a word with the MC, asking him to introduce me as Keith ‘The Camel' Hawkins. That made me laugh, helped me to relax, and it's stuck ever since.
More of the Interview would be interesting, too.
KEITH HAWKINS discovered poker while in his mid-teens, starting off playing
five-card draw and five-card stud in a school game that also included Neil
Channing.
He's since amassed more than $800,000 in live tournament cashes, despite not
being such a regular feature on the circuit as a few years ago and now
focussing on playing online.
Live highlights have included winning the UK Open in 2002 for about £40,000,
winning a tournament at The Vic not long after for £30,000 and, more
recently, finishing 75th in last year's World Series Of Poker Main Event for
$77,000.
"I started playing quiz machines while I was at college", says Hawkins, "and
they gave me the disregard for money you need in order to play poker
successfully.
"I could easily earn £100 during a lunchtime playing 'Ten Quid Grids' or 'A
Question Of Sport'. Then I'd trundle off to the bookies and, more often than
not, lose the lot.
"I'd only really played cash poker until I went to Reading Grosvenor Casino
one night to play blackjack. There was a £5 poker tournament on and I
couldn't
resist signing up. The rest is history."
"I've played tournament poker pretty much for a living since 1993, starting
off at a low level in Reading, Luton, Southampton and Portsmouth, and
gradually moving further a field as the success started.
"It was during my first big tournament, in Amsterdam, that I picked up the
nickname 'The Camel'.
"During a break, at around 11pm, I rushed to get a pint and bumped into a
friend who'd been propping up the bar all day.
"After a couple of lines about drink problems, I said 'I don't have a
problem, I can go days without a drink. His reply was 'well you must be a
******* camel then'.
"I went on to make the final and Paul had a word with the MC, asking him to
introduce me as Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins. That made me laugh and helped me
relax, and it's stuck ever since.
"My interest in gambling started with horseracing back in '74 when I was
just six. My next-door neighbour couldn't stop talking about one she fancied
for the Derby for ages and she put two weeks' pocket money on for me.
"That horse was Snow Knight, who sluiced up at 66-1, and that was it, I was
hooked.
"We lived pretty close to Kempton and I got my dad to take me racing as
often as possible. Then we moved to Ascot when I was 11 and I went more and
more, going to every King George from Troy to Lammtarra.
"Gambling has definitely got a lot tougher over the last 20 years or so and
Betfair, along with odds comparison sites, have pretty much ruined betting
on sports and racing for me.
"In the old days it was your opinion versus the bookmakers'. You could hunt
for value and get rewarded for being shrewd. If you were able to price up
races more accurately than the odds compilers you would win.
"But now, thanks to the exchanges, everyone knows the correct odds of every
horse in every race and, if a bookmaker puts his head above the ground and
offers a bigger price, the arbers descend like vultures.
"Bookmakers are ridiculously cautious these days and they'll shut you down
after just a couple of bets online.
"You have to go to ridiculous lengths to get a bet on, opening accounts in
other people's names, having camouflage bets and all that stupid stuff.
"Now the only edges are in betting cash in shops at sensible each-way prices
or playing in-running, where nobody has much time to compare odds after
something happens to force a change in price.
"My other angle now is to wait for a market to move massively on Betfair and
then bet against the tide.
"There's logic to this. When a big move occurs it's usually down to one
factor, for example a key player being injured in a football match, but
while the original bettors have got value those that follow them in are
usually taking a bad price.
"Ego is the single biggest failing in most would-be professional gamblers.
Not many would have heard of the three biggest winning punters I know
because they aren't interested in publicity.
"These ego-driven gamblers that write books and appear on TV are bad for the
rest of us and they only shoot themselves in the foot, as they'll find it
tougher getting bets on as they become more recognised.
"You wouldn't find me on TV at the moment, certainly not with the way
televised tournaments are structured.
"It's a disgrace that sponsors don't add money to these events. Can you
imagine Roger Federer or Tiger Woods turning up to play without sponsors
adding money?
"As for the future of poker, the old brigade need to stop believing their
own hype and realise that youngsters are taking over the game.
"Some of these kids will have played more hands in a year's multi-tabling
than I managed in 25 years playing the game live. They understand concepts
that live players have never considered, and in some cases never will.
"They are bright, intelligent and eager to learn. I had three of them to my
left in the GUKPT at Luton last month. I doubt any of them were older than
25 but, boy, were they tough.
"I still like to believe I have a bit of an edge in live tournaments but
it's
nothing like it was three of four years ago, which is why I've scaled things
down.
"Don't get me wrong, it's still a great life and there's nothing I'd rather
do than play poker for a living, but now it's easier just to mooch around at
home, play a bit online and do a bit of in-running on the exchanges.
"That's something I've found myself doing more and more since my son Jake
was born and it's good to be able to spend time with him.
"But I'll be back on the road more over the next year. I've just started a
project with a friend who's going to write a book covering what it's like to
spend a year on the circuit.
"He wants a professional player to accompany him to give him advice. The
fact he's a better player than me doesn't seem to bother him!"
Great piece there Chomps, thanks.
The guy with whom Camel has now forged a partnership is Tritram Macdonald, who's father, Ian, was a Gala Notts regular when Thewy & I started out.
Both Tristram & Ian have a great record in Vegas.
Tristram made the GUKPT Cardiff final a few weeks ago, in fact. He also won, or finished 2nd, I forget which, in the Amsterdam Master Classics "LIDO" a few years back, for a 6 figure coup.