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Morning Mr Any Two Grumps.
Ha, a little........
Casper Berry became a Motivational Speaker, did quite well for himself I gather.
He & Dr Tom (Tom Sambrook) were credited with being the "technical advisors (poker)" on Casino Royale, which was one of those silly Bond films I believe.
I've no idea what Tom does these days.
I think one of them, I forget which, was at one time in partnership with Sam Orams, who was one of the PNL Suits. Sam went on to form SO Productions, who do "Live Streaming" of poker tourneys, they used to do them at DTD, but not these days.
Mark Banin is still in poker, he generally has a few poker based businesses on the go - coaching, staking, that kind of thing. Did you know he has a brother named "Camry" (a very unusual name I always thought). Camry's light shone very brightly in Tournament Poker for a brief period, including a very big cash at The Vic one year, maybe 2005, 2006, around that time. I actually wrote a nice little story for "Latest News" about Camry Banin & others recently, but unfortunately, it never got Uploaded due to a misunderstanding, & it was time sensitive, so I doubt it'll ever see the light of day now. I might just look it out for you though, & post it somewhere.
Ask me another.
I invited her to the last UKPC, & she accepted, & we were all set, but then a problem arose with a Visa for her husband, so it never happened.
I've invited her again this time, so you never know.
She is, truly, a lovely lady.
Strange to think she used to be on Sky Poker TV, & since then she's done all sorts, with 'Tilt, 'Stars, Party, ESPN, the lot.
She works hard, too, & deserves all her success & happiness.
She's no shrinking violet though, her Twitter feed - @karaOTR - gets quite lively & feisty at times.
I was surprised to read her age - we don't generally mention the age of ladies, but she posted on Twitter that she turns 40 this week. Blink, & life races by.
Kara Scott was invited on to PNL by Nick Wealthall I believe. Nick was her poker mentor & coach, & he did a pretty good job, though he was working with good material.
Lindsay, yes, she used to be the weather girl on the wireless, then the traffic report lady. Another one who nobody can begrudge success too - it never came easily, she just worked jolly hard & earned the rewards. Love people like that, don't do moan, just do do. And like Kara, she never has a bad word to say about anyone.
Were all the "experts" experts? Absolutely not. There's me for starters. I was not bottom of the class by any means though. It was all good fun, though, tremendous fun.
The Production team was exactly two people. Our "dressing room" was the toilet cubicle, & "make up" was a single powder puff shared between 13 of us. Err, I'll pass on that, ta.
It was a bit of a shock when I went across to Sky Poker, who had - at the time - about 12 people in the Gallery, & as many again in the back office, a full scale proper dressing room - you know, mirrors with naked bulbs around the perimeter - & a whole Make Up Department, staffed by 6 Make Up girls. At one time I was doing both Shows, so it was really weird seeing the different production standards.
Dunno about "well known", not really, but a circuit regular, well known in poker circles I suppose, played all the fessies, in GB & Europe, & had a bink or two. In a way, it was down to Thewy I think.
We ran together, roomed together, swapped %'s in every tourney, all started at Gala Notts & then everywhere.
So we go across to Dublin for something called "The Gaming Club World Championship", which was, incredibly, Pot Limit, rather than No Limit. Can you imagine?, Pot Limit, oooh.
A guy was there from Wm Hill, just spectating, his name was Phil Quayle, we got chatting, & he asked for Thewy & my e-Mail addresses.
It was won by Xuyen Pham - "Bad Girl" as she was known, everyone had a nick in those days. She got a Wm Hill deal off the back of that win, as did her then boyfriend (now hubbie) Smokin Steve Vladar. Gotta love those nicks. "Smokin Steve" lol, he was the biggest nit ever, but a tidy player, he was on Late Night Poker actually. Smashing bloke.
One day the next week I was going down to Brighton Rendezvous for some Omaha thing, & Thewy rings me, all excited.
"Guess what - that bloke we met last week from Wm Hill has offered me a sponsorship deal".
Thewy's first ever deal, he was proper made up, rightly so. I was, too, so pleased fort him.
Driving back home that night, I stated getting a bit down though. It was like the day the 11 plus results came out, & all my mates passed, & were going to the Grammar School, & I failed & was going to the local comprehensive. A bit of envy, jealousy, low self esteem, all that stuff.
I was thrilled to bits for Thewy, obv, but truth to tell, we had run together all that time, & now he had a deal & I did not. It hurts, you know?
Fair to say he deserved it, & I did not, but that misses the point. So were would not be running mates any more, either. Hmm.
Anyway, it is what it is, & so be it.
To be continued......
continued.....
The very next morning, some bloke at Wm Hill writes to me.
"We are starting a new Sports & Poker TV Channel, Poker 425, would you like to be screen-tested for the Poker Analysts role?"
I thought it was a wind-up, TV, me? Are you having a laugh? Never heard such nonsense.
Anyway, I go to the screen test, expecting to be sat in a queue of about 30, & there's just me & Rhowena Colclough there. I did a little piece to camera, & that was that, "we'll be in touch".
Yeah right, I thought.
It did strike me as odd that there was just Rhowena & me.
I got the job.
The penny dropped eventually, of course, & I realised that Phil Quayle had set me up for the job, knowing how it was between Thewy & me. What a top bloke Phil is.
Later, we went to Vegas, the Wm Hill version of Viva Las Vegas, & one of our qualifiers finished 18th in the WSOP Main, John McGrane. Think it was 2004 or 2005. I worked really hard over there for Wm Hill, literally 20 hours per day, I remember falling asleep over my keyboard one night, then falling asleep on the Media Room floor during the Final, & Jen Mason stuck post it notes all over me. Skalie - Jon Kalmar - made the final that year, or it my have been Andy Black. Probably Andy Black, but the old memory is on it's last legs.
So, Phil says to me "we've entered you in the $1,500 NLH by way of a thank you, good luck, enjoy".
What? A WSOP EVENT? For free? I could barely believe it. Err, yes please Mr Q.
I am like a dog with 2 tails on the day, it started at noon. You got a chip per dollar of entry fee in those days, so just 1,500 chips. Ugh.
I go take my seat, & unbelievably, I'm drawn next to a fella I know very well from the circuit - Carlo Citrone. What are the chances?
Carlo had made a WSOP Final two days earlier. Has to be said, Carlo was the world's biggest nit back then - nittier than Smokin Steve - & in that Final, he had folded Q-Q face up, pre-flop, after he got 4 bet.
Folks never 4 bet in those days without Aces. Minimum. The geezer showed 10-10 or whatever, & poor Carlo got slaughtered on the poker forums, & I do mean slaughtered.
So he was a bit down on himself. He ran bad & was out in Level One.
Meanwhile, I'm hitting sets, straights & two pair for fun.
I got a one orbit penalty late on, for the "F-Bomb", which was harsh to say the least, we were just joshing, but that's another story. In fact I've had five penalties in Vegas, including one this year.
Bla bla, there were 900 runners I think, & I finished 31st for about $4,000. One of THE great thrills of my time in poker. Two of my mates, John Grice & old Karabiner railed me every minute of the whole thing, from Noon until 2am. Thewy railed a while, too.
My exit was proper com.
Folded to the Blinds, little smelly Frenchie in the Small, he makes up.
I've got 15 Bigs - some things never change - & I look down at A-J. Not sure how to play this, Frenchie was sticky, proper station, so I eventually just shoved my 15 bigs in.
I'll never forget the next 30 seconds, as Frenchie Station kept repeating those dreaded words.
I'm behind.
I know I'm behind.
I must be behind.
What am I beating?
And I'm sweating now. A-10? 8-8? JUST FOLD MAN.
To be continued......
continued....
Well obv, he calls, & he has the A-4, which is in shocking shape v my A-J.
You know the rest. I got $4,000 & change I think. I was chuffed to bits, but a part of me always thinks "if only my A-J had held, maybe I would have finalled...."
Hopes, dreams, regrets, it's all part of our lovely game.
So, back home & we start the Poker 425 series. One per week. We visited a tourney either in the UK, or Europe, each weekend. What a gig that was.
We went abroad each weekend, or around the UK, then spent all Tuesday in the Studio, making a 40 minute show. Ridic how it takes all day to film 30 minutes of pre-record, but that's TV for you.
Two Presenters, alternating. Johnny Gould one week, Dave Compton the next. Both eventually came to work for Sky Poker TV in the early years.
Johnny was so enthusiastic, though truth be told, he knew little about poker, but he made up for it in gushing enthusiasm. He used to present Baseball on Ch 4 or 5, NFL too I think. He does Charity Auctions now, gets paid a fortune I gather, 4 figure sum per gig. Well done him.
Dave Compton was the other, he & I became huge buddies, we played together all over the place. Great bloke, love him to bits. It's not a secret, but he sort of did a runner, the wife was giving him grief, he was running bad, da de da. So he rung me up one day,
"Tony, I'm under it, so I'm going to go away for a week or two, to get my head straight".
"Good idea Dave, where you going?"
"Las Vegas"
"Uh-oh."
Never seen him since. He's OK though, back at home with the family. Very very talented guy indeed, was the nuts on At The Races. Miss him more than I can say, but I'm pleased he's back home.
Rhowena was the sort of token female. She was extremely pretty, & knew how to display her wares. She was married to Dave Colclough at the time. Ended badly, I'm sorry to say. Dave lives in the Philippines now. I went into Business with him, then he (wisely) bailed out. Wish I'd bailed out too. Another another story.
We also had another Analyst, sort of first reserve, that was Ed Giddens. Another who came to Sky Poker. There's a pattern emerging here, right?
to be continued.....
continued
So that was Poker 425.
As we went along, they gave me little responsibilities & jobs to do, & I loved it, because they trusted me to sort stuff, left me alone, & respected me. Perfect.
Wm Hill rejuvenated Late Night Poker, so they delegated me to organise, set up & run the land-based qualifiers, I set them up in London (Phil Laak & Antonio played), Birmingham, Newcastle & Dublin. Some stores there, I can tell you. Well I can't actually, but live poker in those days was a bit bent, as to where the entry fees - especially rebuys - went.
We had 123 runners in a £100 rebuy at one venue, they were all rebuying like crazy, & the prize pool came to £12,400. Oh really? What a night that was.
Once they were done, Phil Quayle worked with me to offer "invites" to players to play the TV thing, which we recorded down in Cardiff. We had a long short list of 65 players which we had to whittle down to 50. We got down to 50, & then 13 of the 50 expected their entry fee to be paid for them or had been bouncing cheques all over the place, All a bit awkward. You try telling "x", very often someone I knew well from the circuit, "no cash, no seat".
Anyway, we got there, & it was a great TV series.
We recorded the Poker 425 weekly Show in Wapping, East London.
Out of the blue, I get invited to appear on PNL, so I ask Phil if he minded. "No problem" he says.
The PNL show stated 6 weeks later, & was transmitted from a little TV studio just round the corner, every Tuesday.
Tuesday, you say? Well hello there - a double gig. Record 425 in the morning & afternoon, then jump a cab to the PNL Studio & do the evening gig. One trip to London, two sets of fees. How good is that?
The big day arrives, & I go down to Wapping to do my first double TV gig. Excited.
Phil calls me in. "Sorry Tony, this will be the last Show, we are pulling the plug".
So that was that, I'm back down to one TV Show again.
Or so I thought. Next thing I know, just 6 weeks after I started at PNL, I get an e-Mail from "Sky Poker" (who they?) who had not even stated yet.
"We'd like to meet you, we like your Wm Hill & PNL stuff, & we think you'd be interested in our proposal".
Just a bit mate, I'll have some of that.
I asked PNL if they minded me going for the interview - proper etiquette to ask - but they refused.
"Go for the interview & you are off our roster".
Well lookie lookie, I'm as amenable as the next man, but I don't like being shoved around like that, so I went anyway. And PNL were good to their word, they promptly dropped me. God bless.
My first job at Sky Poker was to teach all the staff to play poker. What a life, eh?
Then I was asked to suggest likely names to Present & Analyse. Well I only knew the lads from Poker 425, & more so, PNL, so I offered their names up. James B, Nick W, Mark Banin, Michelle Orpe, Kara, & so on. That went down well at PNL, I can tell you. It's business though, 'innit?
Eventually, I also got the Analysts job at Sky Poker, & we went live early Feb 2007.
6 weeks later, PNL invite me back to their Show. Jeez.
I ask the Sky Poker suits "do you mind?", they were fine with it, in fact they thought it a great idea, as I was by now associated with Sky Poker, so a bit of free advertising.
So, two shows again, how good will that be?
I return to PNL, & do my first Show back with Orpey. Went OK.
Next morning, all of us at PNL get an e-Mail.
"Dear Presenters, we are sorry to inform you that PNL will cease trading with immediate effect".
So I'm back to the one show again, but it sort of developed, & I ended up helping out with all sorts, doing all sorts of poker related odd jobs.
The closure of PNL was terribly received on the poker forums , & I got a proper bashed up. I done nothing wrong though, & never contributed to it's demise. Flame away lads, I 'll cope. The main reason they failed was because PRIMO, the Cardroom, were in big trouble, (the nightly Main Event was down to less than 20 runners) & also one or two of the Presenters were spamming their own sites on PNL, lol. Televising a 20 runner event as the site's flagship MTT? Do me a favour.
So there it is.
Good job I did the short version, eh?
Don't be asking any more questions, there's plenty more where that came from.
Over & out.
not to be continued
Don't know what came over me, I never intended to waffle on so, but once I started it just flowed in a sort of flowy way
Love writing, love it to bits.
Blame Any Two Grumpy for asking.
Bet he is pretty much yr height now dadness?!