Ukgatsby Poker Blog

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T02:41:00.003Z

Hope you all found the transition from 2011 to 2012 swift and pain free.

Hope you are all still doing ok at the poker tables. Dont think i played at all after Cheltenham as went onto early shift at work and just couldnt play anymore and get up during the day.

The old Crypto fair enough but this Ipoker lark no chance.

I was playing live poker weekly but the venue got shut down and is now currently waiting demolition. Shame it was nice beer too. Anyways im here and its the holidays and i sat today thinking it would be good to have a Sunday game with Monday being a bank holiday

I had went out on the town on Friday for the Newcastle match and then got a tad merry afterwards so couldnt face NYE out. Was going to have a game then as part of my resolution just to have a little occasional fun i said £100 into Hills, £100 into Stars. Deposit before NYE and when its gone so am i. Wouldnt have botherered but want some cash online ready for Cheltenham (4 x 50p losing lucky 31s please Mr) but at least its traditional

So deposited on NYE and ready to play but then the ex gf came over to spend new year. So that plan went out the window. Woke up late today and after she went i thought cant be arsed going out as overdone Friday as said and going out Wed for Toon vs Man Utd. so decided to play today

Opened stars and registered for the bigger $11. Figured why not. Am only going to probably play it on Sundays before a Bank Hol Monday. I joined 18,839 other hopefuls.

Would love to post the first game back fairytale win but alas i busted out in 149th for $94.

Its pretty sick when you think that you can play 7.5 hours and beat 18,690 people and not even make a hundred but thats the top heavy Stars pay out that means 18 grand for the winner.

Genuinely enjoyed the game and recommend a break to anyone else.

Got mullered with about 200 left and was gasping on air. Kept surviving and managed to double up a couple of times but eventually the exit came.

Folded to button who raises standard. I have AQc in the SB and jam. BB gets out the way and button instacalls with AK. Cest la vie. But great fun and a winning year (so far)

Will try to blog throughout 2012 but to be fair if no poker then not much point updating a poker blog but as dating is ok, dieting is yoyo, off the cigs still after 3 year and we all know that Newcastle United are the best team in the Universe. Simples !!

Right thats it for now. Will leave you with my first poker pic of the year.

Next one will be a win or cracked Aces.

Happy New Year

R.I.P. Gary Speed

2011-11-28T00:24:00.000Z

Cheltenham Festival

2011-03-15T00:07:00.002Z

Havent played poker barely at all although when i did it was on Betfair. Got a bit of Cash on Hills so going to try that too but for now i will risk a few pennies of it on the Festival.

Ive picked selections for every race over the 4 days and have backed them already. A daily each way trebles and upwards and a win yankee for the 3:20 race each day. The only selection missing is the 4:00 on Wednesday which would have been Silverhand but now thats not running but no replacement.

Picks for info only as i done alright last year so sods law i do crap this year. Anyway they are...

Tuesday
1:30 Spirit Son
2:05 Medermit
2:40 Sunnyhillboy
3:20 Menorah
4:00 Maljimar
4:40 Quevega
5:15 Tullamore Drew

Wednesday
1:30 Some Target
2:05 So Young
2:40 Aiteen Thirtythree
3:20 Master Minded
4:00 -
4:40 Paintball
5:15 Allure Of Illusion

Thursday
1:30 Mr Gardner
2:05 Ackertal
2:40 Poquelin
3:20 Big Bucks
4:00 Bensalem
4:40 Galant Nuit

Friday
1:30 Sam Winner
2:05 Ski Sunday
2:40 Bobsworth
3:20 Denman
4:00 Baby RunC
4:40 King Of The Night
5:15 Oh Crick

Good luck all :)

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T19:34:00.007Z

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that 2011 is kind, profitable and generally amazing to you. I had the horrid Man Flu from about Boxing Day and just about getting over it now.

As far as resolutions go i dont tend to go a bundle on them. I could say to play so many hands or try and win a certain tourney but im just not putting the time in so im just going to play casually and see where it goes. Still dont know where as i still havent found my spiritual home since Crypto went the distance.

I should prob resolve to blog more. But in the meantime here are the 2010 Gatsby's

Poker Performance Of The Year

The Brit Winners At The 2010 WSOP

Blog / Website Of The Year

Melted Felt

Babe Of The Year

Holly Willoughby

Hero Of The Year

Chris Hughton

Knob Of The Year

Nick Clegg

Newcastles Newest Manager - Alan Pardew

2010-12-10T00:18:00.005Z

5 (and a half) years contract.

Never underestimate Ashley though. A very clever man. No coincidence that the press conference was 2.30pm Thursday. Clearly planned to coincide with the debate in Parliament and all the student demos so when the papers show tomorrow Prince Charles getting paint chucked over his car or loads of unwashed students trying to storm Westminster there will be a lot less attention of what went up at NE1.

I cant understand the appointment or the the length of the contract. Owner is not going to splash the cash and appears to have someone in place that wont rock the boat. But the thing is we already had that and that man was liked by the fans and the players so why get rid and bring in an outsider.

I havent felt this low since Keegan walked (the first time)

You Fat Bastard. Get Out Of Our Club

2010-12-08T19:41:00.006Z

Ok so a couple of dodgy results in the Premiership but thats what happens. Thats why its the most entertaining league in the world. We can put 5 past Sunderland. 6 past Villa, knock Chelsea out the cup and beat the current Prem leaders Arsenal in their own back yard.

West Brom game was disappointing but to sack Chris Hughton beggars belief. This isnt a guy fucking everything up or wasting millions or alienating the dressing room. This is a decent genuine guy who has had sod all to spend. Got rid of some very ineffective egos and has done a pretty remarkable job.

On a shoestring budget Chris took over the hotseat and lets not forget that after a 6-1 pre season friendly defeat to Leyton Orient that we were actually 7/1 to go down to league 1 (Thats Division 3 in old money) An amazing job followed in that remarkable Championship season which saw us win the title and then bring in a couple of free signings over the summer and then our only purchase being James Perch.

So Our Forward Line went from
Owen, Martins, Viduka, Ameobi, Carroll
to
Ameobi, Carroll

As crap as the first 3 performed you cant keep cutting the squad and not adding to it.
Ben Arfa looked a world class move until he was crippled in a horrendous tackle
Our then lightweight squad was stretched due to suspensions (which were fair) but this has cost a man who didnt deserve it. For the 5-1 against Sunderland and your service in general in attempting to bring the club back into respectability whilst maintaining your dignity and being positive and professional at all times despite all the restrictions we thank you and hope you have success elsewhere.

To those who are mad enough to agree that he wasnt a big enough name. We have had the biggest names and they have either failed (most) or we have cast them aside (Sir Bobby)
In fact no other club on the planet has had more high profile managers than us.
Has any other club in the world had...

2 x World Cup Winners
Charlton, Ardiles

4 x European Footballers Of The Year
Keegan, Daglish, Gullit, Souness

2 x Ex International Managers
Charlton, Sir Bobby

Thank you Chris. We didnt deserve you.
and to Mr Ashley. I Refer him to the title

Stop Press - Sky are saying the next manager is Alan Pardew
LMFAO - No other words needed

Hola - Summer, Footy, Hols and Stufff

2010-10-18T20:15:00.004+01:00

Hallo anyone still checking this blog out.
Its been a long time and its also been difficult to find the time to post never mind hit the tables.
As you will have seen from previous posts i spent my hols in Spain. I had booked in advance and was due to come back the week before the World Cup Final but with England doing crap and the chance to extend stay for next to nowt (Flight change was only £20) i thought sod it. Stay and be a true Spanish supporter on World Cup Final night.

Absolutely mental is pretty much the way to describe it. In the old town a giant screen was erected (phnarr, phnarr) near the bull ring and thousands descended to watch the game in a party atmosphere that was no doubt recreated all over Spain.

When Iniesta scored it was chaotic and the scenes around were a joy to witness. Hopefully will see it for real one day in England but i doubt it. Also whilst i was in Spain i turned 40 and we had a party in the local chinese as the majority of expats and residents joined us into the early hours of the morning.

When i got back i had my 2nd birthday celebrations as me and my mates headed down to Doncaster for the weekend. We were originally going to York but there was a big race meeting on and we couldnt get all 12 of us booked up in hotel so decided another venue. Doncaster was picked (as a lazy option purely as its the next train stop after York) and despite most people i asked saying they didnt fancy it or wouldnt go back it turned out to be a cracking weekend.

I then got back to work and get used to the rain and the cold again. One cold rainy morning and i thought sod this and booked back up to go back to Spain again so ended up going there for another couple of weeks at the end of August.

Got back again in England and for the final birthday celebrations of the year (for those that werent in Spain or Donny) we spent the Sunday before August Bank Holiday on an all day session in Low Fell and a good day was had.

Since then its been pretty much work and more work. Used up a lot of annual leave and a couple of favours so the odd weekend has been spent at work too. Also because im doing dayshift at the moment (8-4) i cant play poker still stupid o'clock and get up fresh in the morning so i neglected the old online world for a bit. I also had a few dates with an ex girlfriend so the one day i could have a lie in the next day i wasnt playing poker. But as much as shes a nice girl its not something i want to commit to long term.

Anyways why back. Well for one looking to fill some time in. The dieting went absolutely during the summer. Beer and Pizza and Steaks arent good so have rejoined WeightWatchers. This time im also doing the gym and have found this to be a useful combination as at present ive lost 32 lbs in 5 weeks. Ok lot to lose and first bit going to come off quick its a nice start.

So Gym and WW along with footy fills a bit of time in but im now only going to go out once a week max. Also learning Spanish at a college on Tuesday nights so need to have fun again that doesnt involve eating or drinking so poker is back on the agenda for those cold dark winter nights. Still not sure where to play as havent found a new spiritual home since Crypto finished.
I also have to rebuild the bankroll as it subsidised the summer. But its small stakes fun rather than living the dream so will see how it goes.

Im out the loop with recent goings on in the poker world. Does anyone still play, most colleagues or mates i talk to tend to have not bothered for a while. Is the game getting harder to beat or are people just chucking it more for there sanity. It is nice to have a break and hopefully playing fresh and for fun it will be a buzz again.

Re the Gatsby awards as said im out the loop a bit so going to have a nose around and see whats been going down and maybe post them later in the week. But for now im off to the tables to see if i can min wage for an hour or so :)

Good luck and thanks for reading and i do promise to update more now that im back.
Paul

Been On Hols

2010-07-16T00:12:00.001+01:00

Over 3 weeks of sun sea and sangria in Spain
Back now in the cold. Full update and Junes Gatsby awards over the weekend.

Royal Flush

2010-06-16T23:28:00.002+01:00

Gatsby Awards for May

2010-06-11T19:52:00.010+01:00

Poker Performance Of The Month

Walkers Sensations - They didnt screw up and finish 2nd :)

Blog / Website Of The Month

Pokersites - Info, ratings, bonuses & stuff

Babe Of The Month

Keeley Hawes - Fantastic in Ashes To Ashes

Hero Of The Month 1

Ian Holloway - Got Blackpool In The Premiership

Hero Of The Month 2

Phil Taylor - 2 perfect 9 dart finishes in same match

Massive Congratulations

2010-06-10T19:56:00.004+01:00

To Praz Bansi of the Hit Squad
who has got off to a fantastic start at the WSOP
He won event 5 for a nice half million prize and of course the bracelet and the adulation.

Looks like thats June's Gatsby award sorted.

June awards will be up over the weekend. Havent been online much as i was waiting to get my broadband sorted. Now with Virgin Media and happy to have a decent connection again.
Had to actually put up with dial up for a while whilst waiting for the engineer to come and install it. All i need now is a bit of time of work and the chance to hit the tables.

Also looking forward to the World Cup. Would be nice to see England do it but i think South America take the honours. Spain have the form but Iniesta and Xavi injured is a big blow. Still there or there abouts but at 4/1 cant have em. Did fancy Holland as lively outsiders but Robben injured is a big loss

April's Gatsby Awards

2010-05-03T21:50:00.012+01:00

Poker Performance Of The Month

Liv Boeree - EPT San Remo Champion

Blog / Website Of The Month
Amatay - Back in Blighty

Babe Of The Month

Vicky Coren - Loving her on new PokerStars Ads

Hero Of The Month

Chris Hughton - Awesome achievement

Knob Of The Month

Gordon Brown - Bigotgate finally seen him off

Going Up :)

2010-03-31T13:13:00.000+01:00

Cheltenham Roundup

2010-03-24T16:23:00.002Z

05 - Winners
02 - Seconds
02 - Thirds
13 - Nowheres
02 - Non Runners

TUESDAY
13:30 Dunguib (1/1).....................................3rd
14:05 Captain Cee Bee (3/1).............................X
14:40 Bensalem (5/1)......................................X
15:20 Celestial Halo (9/1).................................X
16:00 L'Ami (3/1)........................................2nd
16:40 Quevega (2/1)..................................WON

WEDNESDAY (POKER names)
13:30 Poker De Sivola (14/1)......................WON
14:05 Finians Rainbow (13/2)..........................X
14:40 Diamond Harry (7/1)..............................X
15:20 Twist Magic (13/2)..................................X
16:00 Spirit River (12/1).............................WON
16:40 Causeway King (20/1)............................X

THURSDAY
13:30 Sunnyhillboy (8/1)..............................N/R
14:05 Chamirey (20/1)..................................3rd
14:40 Voy Por Ustedes (12/1)............................X
15:20 Big Bucks (4/7 )..................................WON
16:00 Gwanako (25/1).......................................X
16:40 Nostringsattached (16/1)..........................X

FRIDAY
13:30 Advisor (8/1)...............................................X
14:05 Puyol (14/1)................................................X
14:40 The Betchworth Kid (10/1).........................X
15:20 Denman (4/1).........................................2nd
16:00 Baby Run (11/2)...................................WON
16:40 Qaspal (3/1)...........................................N/R

Coppers back so in effect just about £20 down for Cheltenham
I could have won by just backing £1 per race on selections but where is the fun in that. Also a bit more care and an extra selection on the Tuesday would have brung massive winnings. 2 winners returned at 14/1 sp but instead of Twist Magic i missed Kalahari King which was 3rd and the 7th race Key Card won at 40/1.
14/1 , 14/1 , 40/1..... now thats a treble :

Never mind a bit of fun and some good racing. Just a shame Denman couldnt nail the Gold Cup. The best race meeting of the year is now over. Roll on 2011

Cheltenham

2010-03-16T20:28:00.007Z

Updated after Tuesday
01 - Winners
01 - Seconds
01 - Thirds
03 - Nowheres

£0.00 Tuesday Returns

Total Stake £20 on Cheltenham
Each of the 4 days i will be risking £5 per day
1 horse in each of the 6 races (if 7 races that day the first 6)

(£2.00) - 20 x 05p e/w Trebles
(£1.50) - 15 x 05p e/w Four Folds
(£1.20) - 06 x 10p e/w Five Folds
(£0.30) - 01 x 15p e/w Accumulator

(£5.00) - Total

TUESDAY
13:30 Dunguib (1/1).....................................3rd
14:05 Captain Cee Bee (3/1).............................X
14:40 Bensalem (5/1)......................................X
15:20 Celestial Halo (9/1).................................X
16:00 L'Ami (3/1)........................................2nd
16:40 Quevega (2/1)..................................WON

WEDNESDAY (POKER names)
13:30 Poker De Sivola (14/1)
14:05 Finians Rainbow (13/2)
14:40 Diamond Harry (7/1)
15:20 Twist Magic (13/2) - more pontoon than poker
16:00 Spirit River (12/1)
16:40 Causeway King (20/1)

THURSDAY
13:30 Sunnyhillboy (8/1)
14:05 Chamirey (20/1)
14:40 Voy Por Ustedes (12/1)
15:20 Big Bucks (4/7 )
16:00 Gwanako (25/1)
16:40 Nostringsattached (16/1)

FRIDAY
13:30 Advisor (8/1)
14:05 Puyol (14/1)
14:40 The Betchworth Kid (10/1)
15:20 Denman (4/1)
16:00 Baby Run (11/2)
16:40 Qaspal (3/1)

On the poker front busted out of the SuperSeries with AK vs AJ vs AJ
Jack on the river. One of those things i guess :)

Cheltenham - Tuesday & Wednesday

2010-03-16T01:14:00.005Z

For interest only im going to have £20 on Cheltenham
Each of the 4 days i will be risking £5 per day

Get ready for these high stakes nosebleed moments haha
1 horse in each of the 6 races (if 7 races that day the first 6)
(£2.00) - 20 x 05p e/w Trebles
(£1.50) - 15 x 05p e/w Four Folds
(£1.20) - 06 x 10p e/w Five Folds
(£0.30) - 01 x 15p e/w Accumulator

(£5.00) - Total

Bit of fun and if i blank the 24 races over 4 days then its £20 loss
At the stakes its not going to be mega cash unless 4 or more winners
(which is highly unlikely - my best ever Cheltenham was 7 out of 24 winners)

End of the day they are all supposedly fit horses that have been primed for this meeting.
Some more fancied than others and on the day anything can happen so prefer this low stakes fun angle. A days fancied horses, a days picking daft names, a day going for middle of the road or same jockey or same number then Friday starting with Denman (hard to win as Kauto Star is a class act but loyalty - 1st in 2008 and 2nd last year) and filling the gaps.

Selections are
TUESDAY (Short Priced Horses)
1:30 Dunguib (1/1)
2:05 Captain Cee Bee (3/1)
2:40 Bensalem (5/1)
3:20 Celestial Halo (9/1)
4:00 L'Ami (3/1)
4:40 Quevega (2/1)

WEDNESDAY (POKER names)
1:30 Poker De Sivola (14/1)
2:05 Finians Rainbow (13/2)
2:40 Diamond Harry (7/1)
3:20 Twist Magic (13/2) - more pontoon than poker
4:00 Spirit River (12/1)
4:40 Causeway King (20/1)

Will post the selections from Thursdays system when i have invented it
Friday will be loyalty day . Denman and 5 other personal favourites

Disclaimer , by backing above you prob have an interest but lose
get a pin or a dice or just give the cash to a decent charity. Wont last you 4 days but will make you feel better :)

The prices are William Hill, you might prefer elsewhere. I stick with them because triple whammy this year.

Non runner - no bet (you dont lose if your horse is withdrawn)
Best price gtd - take a price and if the SP is bigger they give you that
Also certain races are extra places paid each way or refund if your horse falls
check the website above for full details.

Good luck all :)

Back on the Hills Trail

2010-03-14T23:16:00.002Z

and getting used to Ipoker again
Don't seem to hate it as much, Still takes a bit of getting used to but one of those things.
Did hit my first final table in like months after motoring through the Omaha hi / lo game before busting in 7th for about the price of a couple of pints

Also mini cashed in the 1500+ runner 8:10pm $6k gtd for the second time in a couple of goes this week. Was looking forward to going quite deep tonight but busted nr last 100 as TT hammered by A9. Weakened stack on the prayer mate when last few big blinds went in with 66 vs KQ. Not to be but maybe next time.

Main thing was that i enjoyed it. Ok no big scores but they will come with plentyful and consistent play. Just need to put the hours in.

Away from the tables and Newcastle enter the final straight towards promotion.
I think we need to beat Forest at the end of the month and then the party starts.

Also we have the Cheltenham Festival this week. I wont give any tips as i dont really fancy anything massively. I might have a placepot out of interest but this week is more about a watching brief. I will be cheering on Denman on Friday. Kauto Star is a worthy fave and will take all the beating but ive always been a Denman fan and cant desert him now.

Updated the links and removed the out of date and dead links. Also on the left i have added the card room schedules from the main rooms in Newcastle. Enjoyed my couple of journeys into the live scene but for now getting my heart back into online first.

Anyways quick update over. Good luck at the tables :)

February Gatsby Awards

2010-03-07T21:09:00.010Z

Live Poker Performance Of The Month

Anton Wigg - 2010 EPT Copenhagen Winner

Online Poker Performance Of The Month

BRENOS - won the 10k gtd rebuy on Ladbrokes

Blog / Website Of The Month

Soap - Good blog and also brought Kelly Brook to my attention :)

Babe Of The Month

Kelly Brook

Hero Of The Month

Peter Kay - Good job at the Brits

Knob Of The Month

Ashley Cole - What is it with Chelsea players these days ??

February Already

2010-02-02T22:29:00.011Z

Christmas is long gone, the snow is thawed and the nights starting to get lighter and warmer. Newcastle still top and i still cant get motivated for Poker

I tried event 1 of the Pokerstars WBCOOP as it worked out as an 8pm GMT start

Was disappointed to find you didnt have to qualify for the main event this year and it was open.

Normally its restricted to everyone who cashes in the warm up events. Card dead but crossed the bubble line in event 1 to win an $11 Scoop ticket.

I didnt bother with the rest of the events as they started at stupid o'clock and indeed i didnt want to play through the night for another massive field. Decided to have a Stars Sunday and play the main event of the WBCOOP along with the 250k gtd and a couple of micro events that were similar start times.

Busted out the Blogger thing with about 500 left. Card dead and low in chips and pushed with an ace rag and big blind only had to make up another 1500 or so to make the call. His KQh hit and i was gone. in the 250k gtd i outlasted 15,000 people but still went out early. Top 100 size stack pot was the killer. 77 in early i raise. button calls as does big blind. 7 9 4 flop. I check it, and there is a raise which we both call. 2 on the turn. i reraise all in and both call and they both have JT.. Marvelous. Well until the 8 comes on the river.

Cash in the 2 micro mtts which is sods law. Play 4 and the 2 that you score are the worthless ones. Need to shop around. Poker career was bubbling in 2007 and 2008. As Crypto wound down it went downhill. I enjoy stars but realistically its like the lottery. You gotta beat 20,000 fields to get the mega payouts and even last 5 tables is own a small R.O.I.

Plus there is the time factor. Hills (Crypto) used to have a lot of £2 comps that lasted 3-4 hours max and they were regular. Maybe they were easier to win because of the volume and you tended to risk more to chip up as get to first break as chip leader and you were flying and if it went against you there was always another in 15-30 mins

Am going to give Hills (Ipoker) another chance and see how i get on there. Stars i will keep as you get some good promos.. The rest i cant really get away with . Full Tilt whilst the first choice of many does nothing for me. Neither does the Ladbrokes. Any recommendations ??

Also because out the loop a bit a bit of a scrambled together January Gatsby Awards

Live Poker Performance Of The Month

Tyron Krost - 2010 Aussie Millions Champion

Online Poker Performance Of The Month

Vietcong01 - 1 Sunday Million is amazing. 2 is god like

Blog / Website Of The Month

United113 - Good read and responsible for good bits of Gatsby Awards this month as personally hadnt heard of Diane Kruger

Babe Of The Month

Diane Kruger (Starred In Troy and other stuff)

Hero Of The Month

Phil "The Power" Taylor - 15 times World Champion - Any other sport and they would have statues built of him

Knob Of The Month

No further words needed

Still here just

2010-01-23T22:53:00.002Z

Got the festive period out the way then wouldnt you know it caught the old man flu.
Not good and very painful but battled through it thanks to massive amounts of lemsip and halls and lockets and stuff. Prob not wise to paint the flat at night and then leave the windows open to counter the pain fumes bearing in mind it was nearly minus 15 outside

Anyways the snow is gone as is the flu, Was back at work last week but was on early shift. Nice to finish early in afternoon but no poker as i would have prob still being playing and down to 100 left when due to leave for the office.

Would soften the blow if late because winning a mega bucks game on stars but my luck it would be finishing 21st for about £6 profit so left it alone. Didnt even make the Miller game as figured poker and lager would mean no chance of waking up for 6am. But back to normal so hopefully playing a bit more now. Did try the stars $3 rebuy 50k gtd tonight but busted on the 2 hour mark without really getting going.

Listened to the football and yet again i can make alternative arrangements for Cup final day as Newcastle were dumped out 4-2 by West Brom. Part of me thinks we were never going to win it anyways the other part says go all out for it in case its one of those flukey years where everyone knocks each other out and you end up with a Portsmouth vs Cardiff final again but not to be.
The main aim is promotion but do we need the Premier League. We could be in the Champions League in 3 years anyways as Platini is saying any club with unmanageable debt will not be allowed to enter unless they can prove its manageable and run at a minimal loss for 2 seasons running (and apparantly that rules out 18 teams in the prem !!!!)

It turns out relegation whilst not ideal could have had a silver lining in that we sorted our finances out. £15m in transfer fees received for Martins, Beye, Duff, Bassong whilst getting them off the wage bill along with Owen and Viduka. Chuck in the 20 million we received (under duress) for Milner, Nzogbia and Given and thats some serious cash. By the summer we will have Butt and Geremi gone too. Get promoted and whilst having to buy to stay up we wont be offering silly money. Just got to get there i guess.

Because ive been out the loop so to speak i need some help with the Gatsby awards. Let me know if you have heard of a nice online or live cash or whos blog or site is fantastic at the moment or who is looking pretty hot as im not sure even i can put Holly up there again !!!!

Word reaches me that the World Blogger Championships are happening again at Pokerstars so will check out the format and post about that . If like previous years then have to put the ad banner up at the top.

Right thats it for now. Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

HNY + Ukgatsby Poker Blog 2009 Awards

2010-01-01T21:55:00.010Z

and good luck all for 2010. 2009 was a decent enough poker year without being too over the top. Some decent tourney wins online earlier in the year but then into the poker wilderness a tad as Cryptologic finally disappeared. Pokerstars is decent enough but you gotta win or its not enough as its possible to play for 9 hours beat 5000 players and still only get double your buyin back.

My first live cash in the Stanleys game and then experiencing 5 hours of the £75 game having qualified from the Miller league was enjoyable and looking forward to getting out there more in 2010. Didnt play much in December due to work so getting back into it
Still off the cigarettes (exactly 1 year) so just got to sort the weight out but am confident. 2009 was always about getting rid of the weed. 2010 is about sorting everything else out.

Ukgatsby Poker Blog awards of 2009 are.....

Live Poker Performance Of 2009

Roland De Wolfe

Won the $5k buy in Omaha event at the WSOP

Online Poker Performance Of 2009

Terrence "Unassigned" Chan
Not 1 but 2 SCOOP Championships

Blog Of 2009

Rubbish

Hilarious Blog - Guy is a legend

Website of 2009
Newcastle Poker Forum

Babe of 2009

Holly Willoughby

Itv Eye Candy

Hero of 2009

Sir Bobby Robson

Legend who fund raised right up until his death

Knob of 2009

Mike Ashley
pic says it all

Thats it for now. Good luck all and thanks for reading.

Snow is falling all around us

2009-12-20T15:19:00.002Z

and the country grinds to an effing stop.
God help us if we lived in Russia or Northern Canada.
Done very little as
a) work has been manic
b) been redecorating the flat

So the poker has suffered. I did play the £75 (+£7.50) game on the 4th December having qualified by winning the Jolly Miller pub league. A definate experience. Picked my football coupon and made my way to the Circus.

The other seat winner, Wayne, turned up and we thought it would be good preparation to hit the Fosters lager. We decide to split all winnings 50% each. Checking my coupon at half time and 5 of the teams are at least 2 goals up and the 6th is 0-0. (Mansfield at home to Grays) We get started on the poker and its a disappointing turn out. About 55-60 were expected but 38 was all that turned up. But Circus as ever added 500 in the pot so £3,350 to be played for.

1st hand i get 36o utg and fold . Second hand i get QQ in the Big blind.
Utg limps. Button raises , i reraise. Utg folds and button reraises.
I sit there wondering what the hell to do . Am i walking into bullets or is it an AK and im racing.
Dunno whether 2nd hand or fear of being first out so i tank and then fold. He shows 1 ace but does admit to having other.

Get JJ about 20 mins later on the button. Utg raises , next to act goes all in so i fold. Another caller and we end up with a 3 way all in (although one of them was very low) AA vs QQ vs AK
Bullets hold up but i would have hit a Jack on the turn. FML !!!!

Dunno if i pissed the poker gods off but having being dealt QQ and JJ i didnt get another pair for 3 hours. But it could have been worse. Circus regular called Joe , turns up late and buys in. He joins our table and first hand is all in. KK vs KK . 4 spades on the board give the other guy the nut flush. Sick beat and quickest exit imaginable.

Mansfield drew 0-0 (missed a pen and then in injury time smacked the bar) so worthless bit of paper rather than £400. Our table breaks and i end up on the same table as a manic gambler called Osemi (sorry if wrong) He has a monster stack and is gambling for fun.

In the space of 12 mins he busts 7 players and 3 of those were in 4 hands whilst i was sat there
74o vs AK all in pre
73o vs AQ all in pre
64o vs JJ all in pre

Totally card dead and im trapped as people are raising before me and he is reraising all in every hand. Eventually with 18 left. I Figure AQ in the cut off is ahead of his range. Unfortunately Small blind reraises all in too. Loon duly calls with trash and its my AQ vs AK vs 89
25k pot for the taking and the chance to get back in but im drawing thin
672 flop looks like giving him another lucky draw but then i hit my Queen on the turn.
King on the river kicks me out though. 5.5 hours to get halfway and my footy bet down the swannie too.

I go and have a couple of pints and come back to watch the loon knocking players out quickly. We get to the next break and then we have our final 10. My 50% of Wayne is still alive but only 9 get paid. The play is so slow as no one wants to bubble. So they suggest taking £100 off the winner to give to 10th.

That seems to loosen the action and within 10 mins of the restart there are only 8 left.
We lose a couple more players and talks of a deal start. Chip leader is reluctant to deal but he slowly blows his stack and its him that leaves next.

I look at prize pool and jot some figures down at break. Wayne and another guy are chip leaders so i suggest £590 to them two. £490 to the other three and play out for £100.
Everyone agrees to that and 2 players quickly leave. With 3 fighting it out for nearly 2 hours for the final £100 everyone is knackered by the end but 10 hours after the start its over and the Jolly Miller has been well represented again with the league winner taking it all down.
I said that i would take £290 and leave £300 to Wayne and then if he won the other £100 then only fair he kept it. Thats how it panned out.

So i didnt win anything and my football betting is cursed but swapping % 's is the dogs bollow.
Won £30 on the blackjack and nice to go home and wake up with a massive profit.
Great game and well advised for anyone local to give it a go. Circus also do a £50 first Tuesday of the month game with £500 added so get yourself along.

Because of work and decorating thats about my poker lot. Didnt even make it to the Miller for the Thursday games. Will hopefully be there Boxing day though. So thats it for now. New post in the New Year for 2009 Gatsby awards so to finish i would just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a profitable New Year.

Interview with Teamdobb - NPF 2009 Champion

2009-12-01T16:30:00.011Z

Today im interviewing Dave Collins. The man behind the Teamdobbs blog and of course the Newcastle Poker Forum (NPF) . After a fantastic victory last month at the circus casino he is now the 2009 Newcastle Poker Forum Championship Winner

Hello Dave and thank you for your time. A lot of people will know you as TeamDobb but lets find about the player and the person. Firstly when and how did you first get into poker and where does TeamDobb come from ??
I first started playing poker after catching my 15 year old son online and asking what he was doing. Turns out he was actually playing poker. I soon downloaded WillHill and playing free money under the table name 'deeirun'. I soon got bored with this as being a gambler, the lure of winning money was too strong. A few Saturday afternoon freerolls later and initial success convinced me the road to riches had been invented and my first cash deposit was made. It took no time at all to be £200 down and then a £2 multi table tournament win gave me a + bankroll.

At the time, I was involved with a good friend of mine betting on football which we were very successful at losing. I thought I better not let him miss out on this chance and told him about this exciting game called poker I had been introduced to. He was soon online himself playing under the name of 'Monacokev' and within a very short period of time the wins started pouring in for both of us (Monacokev has since changed his name to the well known 'Azimut').

The name Teamdobbs was born so simple. I had branched out when I was brave enough into the world of live poker playing Friday nights mainly at the Grosvneor Casino in Newcastle where I met and became very close friends with a young lad called micky “Gyposdog” Chisholm. Each week at the Grosvenor the winner of the multi tournie was given a card marker which we named as " Dobbers " Banter began with us as to who had the most dobbers and from there we chose players who had the same sense of humour and who in our opinion were good lads cos as we all know the game is full of up their own arse wankers. The Grosvenor then on our request decided to have a " Team " event challenge and from their we selected 8 good lads ( not necessary the best 8 players ) who would form Teamdobbs. The crack this created was unreal as week after week we dominated tables with crack which no others could compete against.The prestige of being selected in Teamdobbs has now stuck with these players and the bond has remained. We now have settled at a 10 strong group

Also as well as actually playing poker you also run along with your son http://www.newcastle-poker.co.uk/forum . How did this come about and are you surprised at the way it has taken off and is the main forum in the region and also talked of nationally
I was quite an active member on another poker forum when my son S2C suggested we start our own forum to promote local poker in the North East. I thought this was a great idea as basically the local scene was governed by the 3 Casino venues which seemed intent on cutting each others throats instead of working sensibly together. Players also lacked a lot of free information what was available and so S2C put the technical side of it together and I basically become the gob shite/front man for it and we set about promoting it. What really kick started it off and got it noticed was when we did live coverage of the GUKPT in Newcastle to follow and give the local players attention which paid off massive when local lad Ganesh Rao took down the title and that final table 3rd place finisher was no other than the now famous and WSOP Main Event Final Tabler James Akenhead.
A couple of team games played in Blackpool in AWOP & APAT events then really launched the forum into the poker scene and its simply grew and grew with the backbone of the forum based on people enjoying themselves and having good crack at games. Biggest thing that has came out of the forum is the amount of close friendships that have been formed and no matter what game you attend now in Newcastle you can go in knowing you will meet someone from the NPF and have someone to talk to instead of entering into sometimes intimidating surroundings.

How would you describe your playing style
I would deffo describe my game as TAG which has developed over the last 18 months into a more all round game with a few surprises from time to time. A lot of players have me tagged in the rock category group!!! which I like them to think.

Live or Online and where is your favourite regular place to play poker and what sort of level
Deffo 100% live for me. Online don’t do it for me and I actually hardly play any online games anymore apart from forum games now. A lot of my live game is based on feel for people and their body language which gives away so much info from so many players. I play all the 3 casinos in Newcastle dependant on what games are on but I was a huge Grosvenor casino fan mainly because of the crack and homely atmosphere a crowd of us created in there but that seems to have changed now due to what I can only describe as blind/poor management at the higher levels of head office. Stanley Circus have deffo took the bull by the horns and without doubt is the best ran card room in Newcastle now. It also is very active and supportive in working with the NPF to help everyone.

Where is the most exotic place you have played poker.Any famous encounters or story of a famous player or personality.
Most exotic place Ive played was St Kitts in the Caribbean Poker Classic but obviously Las Vegas is thee place to play especially during WSOP period. Been there last 3 WSOP and obviously because of that have met and spoke to loads of famous “named” players. Last year we got our own actual interviews with players like Jennifer Harman & Greg Raymer who we even got to join the NPF and one night going up to my room in the Bellagio totally pised after making 2nd day of the Seniors Event
I had forgot my room number and was sitting at a table on the telephone to reception trying to get my details when the lift door opened and Phil ivey came walking out fiddling with his phone. Alreet Phil I shouts “Yea man you?” he replies and goes into his room at the end of our corridor. So surreal. Also had Doyle Brunson bump his scooter thing into my leg in the queue at a burger bar in the Rio and was stood at the urinal having a piss during a break in the Rio with Mike sexton on my left and Jesus Ferguson on my right. I didn’t notice which one was the biggest!!!!!!

Love to see them pocket Aces get dealt but apart from them have you a favourite starting hand. Of course if its not AA its KK

Do you have a particularly unlucky starting hand that you dislike
No not really. I think that’s crazy tbh when you hear people saying that and its normally them that have played them bad in a certain situation.

Do you go with the opinion that live or online its harder to win consistantly than it was say 5 years ago and if given the choice would you at your current age like the poker world set back 5 years or would you like to be starting out as a young internet player.
I think the game has moved on so much and with so many more people playing theres so many excellent players out there. Still plenty of awful players mind who simply don’t seem to ever improve no matter how long theve played. I think the online game has totally changed and theres deffo a different game and approach needed to conquer the big online games. A lot of top top onliners out there and at the NPF we have one in Tom “Hitthehole” Middleton who I rememeber chasing me around Aspers one night asking about the NPF and did I have a card with details on. He is now in the top group on online MTT players in the UK and I reckon next year will become the number 1. Hes also a cracking lad to go with it with no big ego or edge about himself and keeps his feet firmly on the ground and is realistic about the ups n downs of poker. I also think its what you put into it or how much effort your prepared to do. Have a few friends who make a very good return from online poker but they have and still do put an awesome amount of time into it and have spent endless hours developing and improving their games and knowledge over the years.

What advice would you give to someone reading this article that wants to start playing poker but has never yet taken the step. Also what game in what cardroom in Newcastle would you recommend for a first time live game for a novice or beginner
Simple answer for this one – join the Newcastle Poker Forum (NPF) and ask away what you want to know. Youll be pleasantly surprised at the response you get

I like forums and blogs but Ive never read a poker book or got tracking software or watched coaching devices. Would you advise someone to use these external poker aids or do you think there is no substitute for playing hands and gaining experience.
Cant buy experience, you’ve simply got to gain it over time but a lot of new players now gain so much experience so quickly by playing so much and so many hands online. As for tracking software – well if I was playing volume online, cash or large outlays per month on games then I thing it’s a must nowadays tbh but its too hi tech for an old timer like me to learn plus I play poker for different reasons than that

What is your biggest poker success to date ?
Won most of the games around the local scene at one time or another including the £200 Grosvenor specials and had a decent finish in the Circus £100k gtd in Birmingham but I suppose my biggest success would be deemed as finishing 97th from nearly 3000 runners in the Seniors event of this years WSOP. Winning the NPF Forum league at Grosvenor over 12 weeks for a main event GUKPT seat gave me a lot of pleasure but obviously my win last weekend by winning the NPF Championship has to be my biggest success in terms of what it meant to me and the respect that goes with it around the local North East Poker scene

What are your remaining poker ambitions.
I would love to take down or even final table one of the UK major tournaments like the GUKPT or DTD or Coral but simply take it as it comes to be honest. Obviously making final table of a WSOP event is the ultimate and hopefully can go that bit deeper in the WSOP Seniors Event of 2010 in Las Vegas. I play poker mainly for the social aspects that go with it and don’t get too intense with the need to prove anything to anyone or to win X amount of money. I play to a very controlled bankroll and don’t get carried away by it at all and as yet have never had a losing year financially by playing poker for which I keep very accurate records of what I play even though they are not great amounts of money.

Welcome to a magic stt . There are 9 seats and your place is reserved.What other 8 players living or dead, Pro or celeb would you like to join you for a one off game
I havnt really got any “famous” or “named” players that I would really get excited about as there just normal people anyway. Id sooner have a table full of interesting and funny people with good crack playing in a relaxed atmosphere. One player who I did play on the same table with in the CPC was Jesper Heugar (KipsterDK on Stars) who has won bracelets both sides of the Atlantic and the Poker Stars Millions twice online. Thing that impressed me most about this guy was he had no huge ego about him and treated everyone at the table with the utmost respect. Really nice guy.

Back to the NPF - Who is the best live player and the best online player and who would you predict to make a major breakthrough in 2010.
Wow such a difficult and personal question as to be honest theres so many at the NPF. I think the forum has been a fantastic tool especially for the younger players to get so much help and information and to improve much quicker. Tom “HittheHole” Middleton has obviously got to be considered the best online player that features a lot at the forum due to the results hes had. As for live its horses for courses depending on the type and structure of game it is but most of my Dobba crew would he very high up my list.
Myself and Cardguard are considering staking a couple of the younger lads into some bigger buy in comps next year so watch out for Spoona & Samj and Im sure players like Buzz & Omahaha could have a big score very soon.

I have heard that the former WSOP Main Event Champion Greg "The Fossilman" Raymer had not only joined the forum but he had also sent a letter enclosing some items for your charity raffle. How did that all come about
That is indeed true. Myself and Mr Entertainment were both out in Las Vegas this year for the WSOP when Mr E asked Greg to do a video interview for us which he kindly did and followed that up by leaving him a card and to our surprise the guy took the time & effort to actually join. We followed this up with a few emails and Mr E then asked him if he could donate anything to a Bobby Robson Charity function we are hoping to put together next year and the Fossilman duly obliged by sending us a box of signed goodies and a lovely letter with it. Simply proves what a true gent the guy is.

As well as the serious play there seems to be a lot of good advice and a very big social scene with festivals and forum games. Some of these must be a nightmare to organise but when i turned up to rail the NPF Championships it all appeared to run like a dream.Who else is part of the team at Bannisters HQ (the nerve centre of NPF)
Having the right people doing the right jobs is a key to a lot of things and the thing with the NPF is its full of such big characters and genuine people theres always someone willing to lend a hand or get involved, all you got to do at most times is ask them. NPF wouldn’t operate without my son S2C who although a very quiet and un assuming type of lad is really the brains and driving force of what goes on. Cardguard is another massive person involved behind the scenes together with Mr Entertainment & Dreamdobb. Looseman & Koyte are always willing to get involved with help on anything we do and Walkers Sensations team captain Gaz Walker does a lot on the photo side of the forum. Early days one member who was very much a driving force in pushing the forum forward was Phil “Phlmc” McNally and Dave “Smoggie” Grayson does a great job with some of the online stuff & league. To be honest theres so many people who would do most things if you asked them as was proven at the recent NPF Championship.

On the subject of humour.
What is the funniest thing you have heard at the table when playing live.
Too many to list from too many people but I do like the humour brought to the tables by the likes of Faetzy, Sean McGuiggan, Bob the Gob and Ridla. One incident I do remember years ago was after being out at a function I took in the £5 rebuy tournie at the Grosvenor on a Wednesday night for newbies. Drunk as a skunk I was very verbal n loud due to the drink and on my table was a girl with a pink fluffy jumper on and huge boobs. Was very obvious she was a new player and in the 1st level of the game at 25/50 she pushed all in on a 455 flop to which everyone folded. I asked her what she had and she flipped over 55 for quads. Wow why did you push all in I asked her. Her reply came back “ I was worried incase someone hit the straight” You may not be the best player on the table pet but you’ve deffo got the best boobs was my response!!!

Also what is the funniest thing you have seen on the forum. There seems to be a bit of an NPF YouTube section happening. Whats the best video on there ?
We love setting up and doing crazy things and by the time you probably print this we will have launched our next video at the forum which Im sure the members will love. The original “NPF Anthem” My way was great followed by Bohemejean which was great fun to do but the best video ever done by us has got to be Dreamdobbs copy cat video of Stavros Flatley. One of the funniest things Ive ever seen. I defy anyone to watch that and not laugh at it.

There also appears to be a very strong loyal team bond between different sections. I have heard about Dobbas, Radgies, Crisps, Cubs (please fill in any ive missed)Whats all this about. Are people headhunted or is there a yearly draft and what are the qualities required for the different teams. Will i get signed up or should i stay Independant / Miller local
I explained earlier how Teamdobbs was formed and the reasons then when the NPF was launched we entered into a couple of Team Events putting teams in from the forum. This created others to form teams and it simply grew from there. Most of the teams at the forum are groups of people with similar interests and who have became friends because of it. Its all friendly banter and makes for creating a great atmosphere at tournaments. We like to be vocal and involved. I reckon you’ve deffo got a lot of Radgie qualities to be honest Gatsby so maybe have a word with Radgie number 2 Koyte

It must be nice to win any tournament but to come through such a quality field as you did when winning the NPF championships it must be such a buzz. To win any tournament you have to get a little moment of luck . What was yours. Once you had the chip lead when did you start to really think that you were going to win. Was there ever a moment where you thought about laddering up the pay scale or was it all about the victory
You cant win a tournament without luck happening sometime during the game and mine happened in a 3 way all in pot when I was pot committed after open raising for 2 others to ship all in. My hand Ace 10 was obviously going to be totally dominated and it certainly was when AK & AQ were flipped. Flop didn’t help much coming J27 but turn gave me the 9 for the gutshot and the miracle 8 came down on the river. Some decent hands holding up then gave me a decent playable stack and the hand that then turned my tournament on its head was winning a massive pot with AA to give me the chip lead going into day 2. Never lost the chip lead ever during day 2 and although Im not used to having huge stacks I thought I played my stack spot on especially on the final table and my only thoughts were for the win. The money was secondary to be honest without wanting it to sound bad. Becoming NPF Champion meant far more to me than the money and the respect that goes with it. Couldn’t of wrote the script any better with how the event went and how I played.

I read that there were a couple of charity sweepstakes and a few side bets flying around. Because of you running the forum and being a bit more well known and high profile a few people backed you to win the tournament outrightWas it a messy book ? Obviously a few other high profile players might have been backed too but i guess there was a % of the field that no one had as they may not know them as well as they know you ?
Yes myself and Cardguard offered to provide a book for placing bets on as another feature of the event with a large % of any winnings going to be given to a charity of our choice. From all the bets taken there were only 2 or 3 players who could cause us any real trouble with me being one of them. One person had £50 on me at 20/1 which skint us BUT an announcement will be made soon about this when Ive spoken to the person concerned because hes offered to do something rather special for the forum with his returns.

I joined the Circus on that day and having played a game there i found the obvious time difference one of the biggest transitions. So for a 2 day competition like you won what is the difference in preparation. Do you have a routine or did it go out of the window because you were helping with the organisation of it all.
I wanted to be physically & mentally prepared for this game but Ill be honest in that it all went out of the window due to certain things. But hey ho it worked although it did take me quite a few days to recover as I felt totally drained after it all. I am getting on you know being 53

What (apart from your game) do you bring to the table. Any mascots ? Good luck charms ? Ipods ? Sunglasses ? Energy Drinks
Odd time I will bring an ipod but only use it if I feel Im getting bored or the crack on the table is shit. I am slightly supersticious and decided to wear a Poker stars cap turned back to front in the NPF Championship which is a trademark of Mark Trett. After his success in the recent Teeside Coral Masters I was hoping for the same sort of result. I once bought a lucky Irish 4 leaf clover cardguard when I was in Las Vegas which wasn’t very lucky so I gave it away and Xenocode has got it. Sorry Gary

Whats the immediate future poker plans for yourself and the forum. Are there any more games like the forum championships planned. Having seen at first hand the NPF championships unfold im tempted to play myself next year. It looked a lot of fun.
May play a couple of events at the GUKPT Blackpool coming up and then the lads in Teamdobbs are taking part in the Grosvenor team event.
As far as the NPF are concerned we shall be sending a team down to the APAT Team Event in Manchester which is a superb event to play in especially for the crack and then the next event we shall be organizing will be our UK Team Event Challenge which was such a huge success last year at Grosvenor Casino Newcastle followed by our birthday game & awards in April.

Last month saw the crowning of a new WSOP main event champion.What do you think about the whole November 9 scenario.Do you think its better to draw it out and hype the television and of course give the 9 time to get sponsorship and of course as some of them have done seeked coachingor should it be played naturally in July the day after the FT bubble.
I was always in favour of it being played to a conclusion but can understand the reasons why they do it like they do now. Met most of the Hitsquad lads at various games and had Sunny Chatta on my table couple of years back in the GUKPT in Newcastle and was talking to him at the WSOP this year. They were over there now supporting James Akenhead which must be awesome. Been massive for UK Poker what they have done and achieved.

Thank you very much for your time Dave. As todays guest would you now award your own December Ukgatsby Blog awards

LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE MONTH

TEAMDOBB for winning the NPF Championship

ONLINE PERFORMANCE OF THE MONTH

TEAMDOBB for winning the GUKPT Freeroll

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

NEWCASTLE POKER FORUM for being head and shoulders above the rest

BABES OF THE MONTH

SANDRA & NATALIE COLLINS (My Wife and My Daughter)
The 2 most important women in my life

HERO OF THE MONTH

SCOTT COLLINS aka S2C
The Brain Child behind the Newcastle Poker Forum who keeps it at the forefront of the Poker Community and provides so much pleasure for so many local people

KNOBS OF THE MONTH

LOUIE WALSH
for actually choosing John & Edward in the X Factor but also the rest of the judges on the show who simply cop out on any logical decision in the obvious money generated rigged voting system thats the true heart behind the show

Another Min Wage Gig (but getting closer)

2009-11-28T02:38:00.006Z

23rd of 2,498

The live pub poker is going ok. The last 4 weeks have produced 2nd, 2nd, 3rd and 4th so as well as the cash it also meant i won the 5 week league (can't be caught next week) so get a seat to the £75 game at Circus Casino in Newcastle.

Was a big jump last time playing my first game there in the 8pm Sunday £20 game. Was over the moon to finish 6th. This is now a massive jump again so fingers crossed. To cash would be nice but the experience is priceless and the main thing is not to act like a rabbit caught in the headlights and make any dumb mistakes. Also the plan is to play sober (ish) so will see how that goes.

I believe it is 40 min levels so hopefully a long day.

Anyways thats it for now. Next post is the Gatsby awards. These will be chosen by Teamdobbs, local blogger / boss of NPF / 2009 Forum Champion as well as an interview so look out for that next week.

61st of 6,121 for pennies

2009-11-24T03:52:00.004Z

I HATE AQ

Did i mention i hate AQ

Live Poker

2009-11-13T17:40:00.003Z

Been playing a bit of pub poker. More the beer and social aspect but of course to get used to handling the cards and the chips. Its a tad different for someone who has played online for nearly 4 years but hadnt played a hand live.

Anyways couple of minor cashes and it paid for the entry and the beer. So happy days.
I then think maybe i should give it a go at a proper card room within a casino and it just so happened that the Newcastle Poker Forum (NPF) were having their forum championship game. 100 of the best players in Newcastle and surrounding area taking their seats in a £50 freezeout.

I decided in the end that a 2 day event with a £50 buy in was probably a bit extreme for my live debut so i gave it a miss but did turn up 3pm on the Sunday to rail and have a couple of pints.
Low and below the tournament was won by TeamDobbs who had organised it all

They also had a £20 bounty game on the Sunday to run alongside the main event so i took a chance in that and bust just before the final table. After a few more pints and i decide to enter the 8:00pm . £20 entry with 1 rebuy or add on. I drift through the first couple of hours on average chips and then after the add on period i double up with KK vs AK (Ace would have dropped had it been online !!!!) I also get a few nice bluffs in as i cement my tight image.

We get to 2 tables left by about 1am. 5 hours and still not near the bubble. My stack is starting to dwindle as its a raising jungle and i now have 2 of the best players in the casino on my table. Ali who they call a god around here and Russ the suit. My fortune then suddenly takes a turn for the best. I get dealt KJs on the BB. Button raises and small blind makes up the action and i decide to flat call. Flop comes a rainbow KJ3. Button raises and Small blind pushes all in.
I snap call my remaining 12k and the button throws away QJ. Cards on the backs and im up against K3 . No 3 and ive got a nice pot

I then start bluffing a bit more but my image is then blown apart. I have 53c on the button and raise it 2.5 times. Small blind calls and BB folds. Flop is AKK and i raise again and the other player folds. As i throw my cards away the dealer is moving the button and he catches them and exposes them. It actually works to my advantage though as 2 hands later I get AKh on the small blind. I look early as they are dealt and as its folded to me i push all in. The big blind asks if i even looked at my cards so i take a look and say i have now. He insta calls with AJ and i double up. We then have 2 players eliminated on the other table to take us to the bubble with 11 left.

After what seems ages they decide to take £30 off the winner for 11th place and that seems to speed things up. 10 mins later im on my first live casino final table.. With over £500 to the winner down to £65 for 10th im guaranteed a profit for the day.

We lose our first player when the NPFs Bob The Gob busts out but he cashed and managed to finish the plate of sandwiches so seemed happy enough. With 8 left the local god Ali pushes all in with A8 on the button. I call from the small blind with TT and take him out. A cash and a major elimination. We get down to 6 left then at 3.30am after 7.5 hours it ends.

QQ in mid i raise. The small blind calls. and the big blind raises. I push and the sb gets out the way. The BB flips over KK and im gone. Maybe i could have found a fold but just one of those things and i wanted the double up. I got £100 for 6th and 5th only paid an extra £15.
One hell of an experience and one im keen to repeat.

I also dont know if its because ive played a bigger competition but since i have played at the casino ive played the pub game twice at the Miller and both times ive chopped it when heads up.
So my last 3 live games have brung over £300 in combined prize money. Mammoth returns for a little £2 online fish :)

Going to the Grosvenor tomorrow to play the NPF team game so will report back on my day at Newcastles other cardroom. On the subject of all things NPF and Newcastle. I said they had their forum game well Teamdobbs will be guest hosting the Gatsby awards for November and will answer the interview questions i have set. I might make it a regular feature and try and get into the mindset of different players.

Anyways thats it for now. Good luck and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

WSOP Over For Another Year

2009-11-10T16:51:00.005Z

1st Joe Cada ($8,547,042)

2nd Darvin Moon ($5,182,928)

03 Antoine Saout ($3,479,670)

04 Eric Buchman ($2,502,890)

05 Jeff Shulman ($1,953,452)

06 Steven Begleiter ($1,587,160)

07 Phil Ivey ($1,404,014)

08 Kevin Schaffel ($1,300,231)

09 James Akenhead ($1,263,602)

The British interest ended with James Akenhead being eliminated but apparantly the theatre nearly emptied when Ivey got eliminated. Moon has never played online and as such declined all sponsorship offers from the main sites so fair play to him for that.

Joe, at 21 is now the youngest ever Main Event Champion. Hopefully he can become a great ambassador for the game in the same way that Raymer and Hachem were (lets face it no one can match the Moneymaker effect) I will however settle for him being a bit more high profile than Yang or Gold.

The Final Question is should a champion have been crowned in July. When 10th place busted should they have went home, went to sleep and came back the next night and played to a finish. Poker is a test of skill and stamina and a near 4 month break to resume the final table might have allowed some players to get sponsorship deals or coaching but was it worth it.

Chipleader didnt deal. Ivey is part of team Full Tilt so surely the rest would get a deal on the back of finishing final table anyway. Plus if they continue to do this format its just a matter of time for whatever reason that one of the future November 9s dont make it to the final table. I remember when Raymer won it and they done a breakdown of the field.

How many women, europeans, average age etc and they also said of the original qualifiers and direct buy ins a couple had died since , one was now in prison and someone else had seen the light and given up.

But no matter what the format, how much the casinos and sponsors skim or treat the actual fee paying players with contempt its the poker dream and no doubt everyone reading this will try at least 1 WSOP qualifier. You never know it could be you.

But for now our champion is Joe Cada. Good luck to him

Linkage

2009-11-07T03:45:00.014Z

Added a few to top left hand side. Well worth a look

Free Poker Bankroll

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Fuzion Poker Blog

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Uk Poker Sites

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PKR Poker Rakeback

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Poker Bonus Codes

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Ukgatsby Poker Blog
Ukgatsby Blog
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Ukgatsby Poker

Octobers Gatsby Awards

2009-11-02T16:40:00.012Z

Ukgatsby Poker Blog Awards

Live Poker Performance Of The Month

The Hedger

aka Hedger43 from the Betfair forum who went and won the Irish Winter Festival Main Event. 143,000 Euros on top of the cup and the glory make it a fab Festival for the Hedger

Online Poker Performance Of The Month

HitTheHole

2nd in the stars 500 for over $64,000. But even more remarkable that was the 19th of October and he still found time to get another couple of hefty stars silver medals taking the monthly winnings to just under $100k. On fire and a player to keep an eye on for the future

Blog / Website Of The Month

Fuzion Poker Blog

Very informative and also some quirky and amusing articles.

Babe Of The Month

Miranda Kerr

Australian SuperModel who is now the face and body of Victorias Secrets. Wasnt sure who to select this month so asked for nominations and this was the choice of the players in the NPF Monday night stars game.

Hero Of The Month

Jan Shulman

An American wife and mother. Millions of them but Mrs S obviously putting something in the dinner or doing the hoovering quietly so her family can swot up on the poker scene.

Her son Jeff is one of the November 9 that will be battling for the WSOP main event crown

Her husband Barry, CEO of Card Player Magazine took down the WSOPE the other week for good measure beating Mr Negreanu heads up.

Knob Of The Month

Mike Ashley

This prick has pulled some major strokes in his tenure as owner of Newcastle United. But the latest takes the biscuit. Willing to sell the namimg rights of St James Park to the highest bidder. Could we see "The Greggs Arena, The Brown Ale Bowl, The Stottie Cake Stadium"
Total shambles. Either this bloke is a secret mackem or hes been smacked or had his wife shagged by a Geordie as he seems hell bent on ruining us.

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Ukgatsby Poker Blog
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What A Difference 13 Years Makes !!!

2009-10-20T22:37:00.003+01:00

20th October 1996
Newcastle 5 - 0 Man Utd
(Peacock, Ginola, Ferdinand, Shearer, Albert)

20th October 2009
Scunthorpe 2 - 1 Newcastle
(Nolan)

As the fans sang (as they do every match these days) to Mike Ashley..

"You fat bastard, Get out of our club"

Septembers Gatsby Awards

2009-10-07T22:43:00.010+01:00

Ukgatsby Poker Blog Awards

Live Poker Performance Of The Month - Steve Holden

Won the Coral British Masters Poker Tour in Liverpool.

Online Poker Performance Of The Month - Jamesbeckton
FTOPS $50 heads up comp. Got all the way through to the final then decided to split it with his opponent and they took $20k each. Fantastic achievement

Blog / Website Of The Month - Rubbish
Pure quality - Give it a read. Absolutely hiliarious

Babe Of The Month - Holly Willoughby

From Xfactor to This Morning. She is all over the bloody place at the moment. But has that sparkle / butter wouldnt melt look so worth one (a Gatsby that is !!!!)

Hero Of The Month - Imi from the NPF

One minute playing at the Grosvenor in Newcastle the next the word is out that he is in hosital with Meningitus. Thankfully a speedy recovery and hopefully see him at the tables again soon.

Knob Of The Month - Sir Alex Ferguson

Has an opinion on everything and generally a whining git. A shame really as he should leaving the talking to his team on the pitch but no has to stick his oar in. People say Man Utd are disliked because of their success. Thats bollox. Its the antics of him and some of his players over the years. People wanted to see someone else win in the 70s and 80s but still respected Liverpool and their managers. Basically they werent twats. He is !!!

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Ukgatsby Poker Blog
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Septembers Gatsby Awards

2009-10-02T02:25:00.003+01:00

Will be posted over the weekend. Not been online much. Had the old swine / man flu but hammered the Benolyn and Beechams and recovered well. None of this 1 sachet per hour or teaspoon every 4 hours rubbish . Just mix it up and down in 1. Ok it might make your liver tingle a bit but as long as it gets rid of the snotty nose and the cough its a result.

Still off the alcohol (bar really special occasions) and that seems to help the poker. 4th, 6th and 7th in the pub poker. Online i havent played for a couple of weeks. I might try the Stars multis on Sunday night. So say hi if you see me at the tables. I'll be the one working my bollox for 6 hours only to bust in 40th of 3,500 for 10 bucks but got to keep cracking.

Anyways as said will post the "September Gatsbys" over the weekend as am still doing the write up. Plus im knackered and cant be arsed now.

Pictured below is the early front runner for October.Beth who beat her dad (Koyte from the Newcastle Poker Forum) heads up tonight when he had 138,000 chips to her 1,500. Quite an achievement as even Lazarus had 5 big blinds.....

Quiet Week

2009-09-22T00:08:00.005+01:00

Very little poker, even less alcohol, Lots of cooking healthy shite and preparation for future meals. If i eat any more pasta i swear i prob start talking Italian (cue all the cockneys saying it would be easier to understand than Geordie)

Been off the cigs now for nearly 9 months so its time to totally hit the fitness, hence the healthy eating and future exercise. Well moderate exercise anyways, taking it slowly and all that.
Watched part of the Great North Run on television on Sunday and it was such a buzz seeing 52,000 do the annual 13 and a bit miles that is Newcastle to South Shields.

Not really motivated to do it as believe it or not i have done it 3 times before.
Once as a fit 19 year old where done it easy with minimal training
Once as fittish 23 year old although we did stop and have a few pints on the way (pound coins in the sock wasnt healthy or clever - anyone ever thinking of doing same. call in pub before hand and pay in advance)
Other time was 26 , still reasonably fit but was running with serious runners and i burnt out too early and ended up hitting the wall and walking the last couple of mile.

What i would like to do one day is the London Marathon. Just to say id done it. One of my mates dads used to do it all the time. He made a bloody fortune for charity too. Its one thing passing the form around work and stuff its another doing the race, then paying for a flight back and getting back home in time to go round local pubs with the bucket.

So thats maybe what i aspire to , a Marathon running god
ok maybe not just fit , overweight rather than fat haha

Im wondering whether increased fitness and weight loss is also good for the poker. More mental than physical but surely it must help and you do tend to see more skinny scandis at final tables than fat yanks. I once remember someone saying they didnt eat for 3 days before a major EPT. Not sure i would go to that extreme but water and rivitas and pasta is ok i guess.

Nominations welcome for Gatsby awards. Anyone done anything major online ? Also what about live . Maybe some heroics down London Town at the Betfair World Series Of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Follow updates by clicking on the link there or on chip logo the right hand side. Who will follow Annette and John to glory this year.

On the football front a rude awakening at Blackpool was followed by a win against Plymouth.
We have one of the most quality line ups in the entire division. But the squad is paper thin and injuries and suspensions could leave us too light during the winter. If nothing else at least we arent looking like going down another division.

Also it was the public service for Sir Bobby Robson today at Durham Cathedral. One of the most loved people in football, widely admired and respected. We will never see the likes of him again. Says it all when one of the best tributes and showing of respect was from our local rivals Sunderland. He will be missed.

Right thats it for now. Going to try and get a game online Tues or Wed and then maybe get down to the pub for the live game on Thursday. Out Friday and maybe Saturday and all of it drinking Orange and Soda. Sick but gotta be done.

Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

33/1 shot to play London EPT Main Event.

2009-09-13T21:52:00.003+01:00

Well i was for a while last Sunday. Had played a Stars promo game where top 27 qualified for regional Sunday final. Onto said final and over 600 runners with 100th getting paid all the way upto 2nd who got $500 and 1st who got a $13k package for London.

Well 4 hours into the game and im still in. All be it low but 100 left as bubble gets burst.
On the bubble my mate says hey youre 100/1 to be there and so the patter continued. Its was like a total rag being backed as the odds came down
100/1
80/1
66/1
50/1
40/1
33/1

and then eventually with 32 left i busted . A7d on the button, chucked em in and walked into AA. One of those things. Did get $7.50 for my troubles which aint quite a London EPT seat or a kiss off Vicky Coren but maybe next year.

Thursday i played live at the pub with 21 of us turning up. Entry is £10 with £5 rebuys and then a top up at the end of the 3rd level. Just drank orange and soda (didnt rebuy but took the add on) and ended up 4th for £65 so there you go my first live cash.

Questions asked how i coped without getting pissed for such a long game but dealing was ok and it kept me fresh. Totally card dead in the end and the blinds (25 min levels) meant that you had to chuck them in and pray now and again. But for a beginner like me its a great way to start live poker and i urge you to check out your local pub game. £10-£20 depending on rebuys, couple of pints (orange in my case but options there) and a buffet at break. Good craic and an experience. A very well run game and league by Koyte from the NPF.

Online and work meant that i couldnt play any 6-7 hour slogathon mtts this week so loaded up William Hill and played a bit on there on Friday night.

Played the $6k gtd Freezeout (1600 runners - busted 300th)
played a $5 stt and went out first hand (KK vs AQd - all in pre - 3 diamonds on flop)
mucked about a little on micro stakes omaha high lo before chucking it for the night.
Ended the evening with a massive profit of £4.13 (all adds up i guess)

Was going to play tonight but work and then the match and felt a little tired so a bit of railing, crap tv and surfing. re the match , top of the league. 5 clean sheets on the trot for the first time since football was invented. Entertainment, scoring goals and winning matches. Sod the premiership. The Championship is where its at. Its the new cool place to be. Afterall the prem is dying on its arse as no one wants to take a risk.

You got 2 sides that can realistically win it (Chelsea and Man Utd)
another 2 that would like to challenge but happy just to be 3rd (Arsenal and Liverpool)

The champions league is killing the premiership because top 4 qualify and the gap gets bigger but no one wants to finish 5th to 7th so no one else improves. Yes they want the position and the increased prize money but they dont want to be in the Uefa Cup / Europa League so once they qualify they normally chuck it once the domestic fixtures pile up .

Looking over the years English clubs have only won it twice in the last 20 years (Liverpool and Arsenal) and as the best clubs are in the champions league then you cant see the likes of Everton or Fulham (Aston Villa were out in August) improving that record. Even if Man City break into the top 4 the displaced team will go all out to regain their league position rather than give the Uefa Cup a 2nd look. As long as we have 4 places we dont win it again. Not just us though, even the Italians havent had a club in the final for 10 years.

Anyways thats it for now. Hope the cards treat you well. Thanks for reading.
Paul

Augusts Gatsby Awards

2009-09-02T21:30:00.026+01:00

Ukgatsby Poker Blog Awards

Live Poker Performance Of The Month Amatay

Won the 94 runner £50 entry at DTD on the 1st August to pocket over £1600. Very nice result. No one bettered (and if they did i didnt get to hear) so this months award goes to deepest darkest Watford. Honourable mention to Beth who won the comp at the Miller and then repeated the feat the following week. Awesome performance

Online Poker Performance Of The Month
Knerrad from the Newcastle Poker Forum

Took down the $5k gtd and $20k gtd on VC
Honourable mentions also for Chalfontfan and Dibble after good wins

Blog / Website Of The Month

Online Poker

What can i say :)

Blog / Forum Post Of The Month

RUBBISH

Had tears of laughter reading this. Pure Class

Babe Of The Month Gemma Merna

As Seen In Hollyoaks and now most tabloids and lads mags

Hero Of The Month Usian Bolt

Fast as fuck and will run as fast as he wants to. Was jaw dropping to watch him smash the clock. I only pray he is clean. Johnson got stripped before flying home yet Lynford and Carl took years for their test results to come to light. Also by no means a hero but Chris Hughton has took Newcastle United to the top of the league despite everything at the club being a shambles. Word on the inside says 5 wins and a draw gets him Manager of the Month as consolation

Heroine Of The Month Jessica Ennis

British and a World Champion. Looks like all that pre 2012 Lottery funding is paying off. Kudos to anyone who got on her (phnar phnar) at fancy prices for Sports Personality of the year. Only a cricketer or F1 winner can stop you now.

Knob Of The Month Michael Owen

Didnt fancy it at the Toon. Wished he had joined Liverpool instead. No biggie. We all work and would go for the money wherever it is but after spending his Newcastle career with a face like a smacked arse he then goes and blows kisses to the Man Utd fans after scoring his first goal. Pass me the sick bucket. Can this football whore go one better and actually kiss the badge AWAY TO LIVERPOOL !!!!!! A close 2nd was me for my drunken exploits at the Miller but alas i cant win my own award so over to you Michael..

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Coming Tonight

2009-09-02T13:37:00.002+01:00

Augusts Gatsby Awards !!!

Less than 9 hours the lucky recepients will know :)

Depleted Newcastle United Squad

2009-08-26T01:50:00.003+01:00

We now have just 17 players (and one of them isnt ours !!!!)
With all the players that have left and no new players signed the complete list of who we have left is below. Figure is amount of games played for Newcastle

153 S Amoebi
143 S Taylor (Target for Everton now Lescott is gone)
139 N Butt
121 S Harper
053 J Enrique
042 F Colloccini
038 Geremi
038 A Smith
029 J Guiterrez
027 J Barton
025 D Guthrie
014 K Nolan
012 R Taylor
010 A Carroll
004 Xisco
002 D Simpson (On Loan from Man Utd)
001 T Krul

Players that have left in the last 12 months
12m J Milner
9.0m O Martins
8.0m S Given
6.0m S Bassong
6.0m C N'Zogbia (Ryan Taylor included in deal)
4.0m D Duff
2.5m H Beye
2.2m A Faye

As well as those we also have the likes of Owen and Viduka off the wage bill so wheres the bloody money. Now news breaking that Lambias (chairman and number 1 lackey of Mike Ashley streaked after the Reading game. Yup an old businessman got bollock naked and ran across the pitch. Someone leaked it to the press who enquired and were met with rebuff and an official club statement saying it was rubbish. When said journo claimed he had proof there was an almighty turn around saying misunderstanding etc.

MA and DL are killing the club , either they really are that dosile. they are closet mackems or (and very unlikely but nothing would surprise me anymore) the rumours of MA getting a slap years ago outside of White Hart Lane by a Geordie.

Whilst not a sell out we still had 44,000 against Reading to watch a depleted team led by an inexperienced coach (who only found out David Edgar had signed for Burnley when he seen him on television being paraded !!!) and a twat of an owner. Note that is 4000 more than were at Sunderland the night before for the visit of Chelsea.

Holding our own in this league but if a couple more sales before the window slams shut will leave us proper fucked. Once the winter injuries start we will struggle to list a squad. Could well see the day when all the subs are all reserves who have never started a game for Newcastle.

Its never boring at St James Park. If no one hurries up and buys the club i might put an offer in myself. Don't need cash just mortgage the ground and training facilities. Worked for the Glaziers.

Recent Poker - Cashing is easy . Hitting big bucks is impossible :
This weeks games on stars
705 of 8,435 ($020) $3 rebuy $50k gtd
223 of 3,600 ($018) $5 F.O $12k gtd
150 of 2,100 ($008) $1 rebuy
050 of 3,600 ($031) $5 F.O $12k gtd
039 of 2,114 ($015) $1 rebuy
022 of 6,060 ($147) $3 rebuy $50k gtd

Althought tbf just hitting mammoth field form just in time for the wcoop.
Just gotta qualify for them :)

Next post is the Gatsby awards so as ever suggestions for nominations welcome
Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Hitting The Bar

2009-08-22T21:41:00.003+01:00

But at least Newcastle United arent :)

Played 1 game Thursday and 1 on Friday. Got in from Fat club on the Thursday (lost 4 lbs) and even walked home too (a good 1.5 miles imo) got in and didnt fancy the pub so settled down and fired up stars for the $3 rebuy $50k gtd (7.15pm start)

Good points
getting deep - finished 22nd of 6,060
enjoyed the game
won $147

bad points
so near but so far
took 6.5 hours to bust
nearly 9k short of what winner got
couldnt break the million chips again (920k was the peak)

Tried again the following night but this time played the 3,600 runner $5 freezeout ($12k gtd) pretty much the same as above finishing 50th of 3600. Would be nice to finally hit a FT but its coming and the break from online poker has got me keen again.

Newcastle are now top of the championship (ok joint top , ok second) after 3 wins on the trot. Forget how many mackems said to me a few weeks with games against WBA, Reading, Sheff Wed and Palace we were nailed on to be bottom. I think not !!!!

The Championship is definately the way forward. Confident players scoring goals, playing as a team and enjoying themselves. Hopefully we can just stay there as the Premiership is fucked.
The top 4 are pretty much set in stone. Man City might break it with the cash but no one else got a prayer. After that 5th - 7th is Uefa Cup but no English team wants to play. They all want to qualify but once they get there they chuck it by playing the kids.

So you have 3 sides trying to win the league
5 sides trying to get top 4
15 sides trying to finish between 8th and 17th
The imaginary thin line between the layers of the premiership is widening so we may as well stay in the Championship wait until everyone else goes bankrupt and then take our place in 5-10 years time :)

Still no full time manager there and arguing with a Newcastle hater at work i said we would one day have a big name again as no one rivals us for big name managers. Has any other club in England been managed by......

2 World Cup Winners (Charlton and Ardiles)
3 European Footballers Of The Year (Keegan, Dalglish , Gullit - Nearly 4 as Shearer was 3rd in 1996 and of course Souness was unlucky to not win despite winning the European Cup 3 times)
1 Greatest Managerial Legend (Sir Bobby Robson)

Apparantly there is an announcement on the clubs future on Monday at 5pm. Prob nothing special. Hope im wrong but Ashley seems convinced to destroy the club and maybe those rumours are true of him supposedly getting slapped at a Spurs vs Newcastle game years ago.

As we approach the end of the month. It will soon be time for the Gatsby awards. So let me know if anyone worthy of one. Done something special online. Hammered the field on the felt.
Let me know. Right thats it for now. Match of the day time.,

Thanks as ever for reading and good luck
Paul

If Carlsberg done Footballers On Facebook :)

2009-08-19T00:16:00.004+01:00

Bobby Zamora rejected Phil Brown's friend request
Fraizer Campbell rejected Phil Brown's friend request
Marc-Antoine Fortune rejected Phil Brown's friend request
Michael Owen rejected Phil Brown's friend request

Arsene Wenger isnt worried about lack of transfers this summer
Alexander Song Billong likes this
Visakri Diaby likes this
Denilson likes this

Joleon Lescott has to go to work tomorrow : ( 13 minutes ago

Craig Bellamy has joined the group Money is ruining football
Benjani likes this

Alberto Aquilani: Oh no! I've just had my new house robbed!!!
Steven Gerrard, Jerzy Dudek, John-Arne Riise, Lucas Leiva,
Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch, Jose Reina and Daniel Agger like this

Roque Santa Cruz is looking forward to starting on Saturday
Craig Bellamy is looking forward to starting on Saturday
Carlos Tevez is looking forward to starting on Saturday
Emmanuel Adebayor is looking forward to starting on Saturday
Robinho is looking forward to starting on Saturday
Benjani is looking forward to starting on Saturday

Steven Gerrard hopes his 'groin' injury clears in time
Ben Foster Ditto

Joleon Lescott became a fan of money.
Gareth Barry likes this

Marcus Bent is hoping to start at Old Trafford - 1 hour ago
Sir Alex Ferguson Likes This.

Frank Lampard is LOLing at Stevie G - 3 hours ago 3 comments-
Steven Gerrard ****** off Lamps
Rio Ferdinand oi oi epic banter lads
Steven Gerrard did he dedicate the banter to his Mum

Mike Ashley My evil plan is almost complete.
Niall Quinn & Peter Reid like this

Glen Johnson is looking at new toilet seats in B&Q

Tomas Rosicky is fit & can't wait for the new season 3 weeks ago
Tomas Rosicky is depressed 3 days ago

Samir Nasri is watching Top Gear on Dave. Cheers Abou

David Moyes is skint
Mark Hughes likes this

Didier Drogba poked Jens Lehmann - 3 years ago
Jens Lehmann went down holding his face - 3 seconds ago

Nemanja Vidic will definately play against Liverpool in October
Fernando Torres likes this.

Rio Ferdinand feels like a p***k after mistake tonight 10 mins ago
Dirk Kuyt likes this

Steven Gerrard has created a group, "Court, it's easy!"
Eric Cantona does not like this
Joey Barton does not like this

Mike Riley has been invited to the event
'Drinks at Old Trafford' by Mr. Ferguson
Mike Riley is attending this event.

Mr Ferguson and Mike Reilly are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Steve Bennett are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Phil Dowd are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Andre Mariner are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Rob Styles are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Peter Walton are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Michael Dean are now friends. · Comment · Like
Mr Ferguson and Mark Halsey are now friends. · Comment · Like

Dwight Yorke has changed his relationship status to 'single'
Katie Price like this.

Jeff Stelling says it's full time at Anfield - 4:49pm
Jeff Stelling says it's full time at the Emirates - 4:50pm
Jeff Stelling says it's full time at St. Andrews - 4:50pm
Show 5 similar stories
Jeff Stelling says it's full time at Old Trafford - 5:30pm

Peter Crouch is now listed as engaged.
Jermain Defoe: You ugly, lanky streak of ****
how did you get a girl like that?
View all 34749523 similar comments.

Marcus Bent is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Gerrard Pique is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Armand Traore is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Ryan Babel is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Jermaine Defoe is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Teddy Sheringham is in a relationship with Danielle Lloyd
Danielle Lloyd has rejected Luke Chadwicks friend request

Newcastle win , Shola gets a hat trick

2009-08-15T21:24:00.009+01:00

I only need to get off with Girls Aloud for the treble (ok well just Kimberley and maybe the Ginger one for the craic) Coz god knows the price of the first 2 would be massive.

Martins , Bassong, Beye have been sold with Duff just about gone and maybe Stephen Taylor going to Everton. Thats on top of Owen, Viduka leaving on frees and of course the likes of Given, Milner and N'Zogbia leaving during the relegation season. There is no new players being bought so its loan deals and reserves till something is sorted out.

Still a weaker team seemed to play with confidence and a smile on their face and Reading were easily took apart. No online gambling at the moment as i like to see how the footy pans out in August. QPR would have let me down surely last week and if im honest i would have probably had Aston Villa on the coupon today. I might have had a couple of first goal scorers though as i normally follow my fantasy football team and a good start with Shawcross and Drogba netting.
But someone once warned me to stay off footy betting in August and May (too many still in beach mode on the former and too many with sod all to play for in the latter)

I've hardly played any poker lately as either been out, been working weird hours or just not fancied it. Im prob going to play a couple on Sunday evening so no doubt a post soon about some badbeat after 6 hours that meant i won 3 quid instead 3 million. Well you never know.

In fact the only poker ive played recently has been live. Well half a game anyways as was totally hammered which aint big and aint clever kids. The dieting been going a bit slow and too much like a rollercoaster and i aint got the time or willpower to do it alone so decide to return to WeightWatchers. Because i want to do it properly i work out what points im allowed.
(so many a day - upto you whether you have 1 pizza or 60 apples etc but they say vary it and keep it reasonably healthy and the junk is a treat not a daily necessity)

Anyways because im going to have a decent drink at the pub poker i decide not to eat anything during the day. In hindsight not the smartest thing ever. Anyways im on the felt, the vodkas and cokes are flowing. I get dealt AA early - make quads but no one falls for the trap , although to be fair its hard for anyone else to get a hand on a board that reads A A K 7 4 as ive got the two bullets and apparantly we played without the King of diamonds for the first couple of levels !!!

Anyways never mind. i rebuy 10 mins later when JJ busted by AQ. I then get a little card rush in the next level and have JJ and QQ and both hold up. Also show a nice bluff with 52 to try and change table image or maybe it was the drink kicking in. There is a break and a chance to add on. I do that then hit the wine. Big mistake. Healthy chance of cashing becomes instant tournament over. Got too pissed so need to stick to pop next time if im still welcome to play. Maybe i should wrap it anyways and play my poker online.

Friday night was a duly quiet one with the hangover from hell. Saturday i worked and then went out for the match. Even stuck to orange and tonic water so i wasnt pissed. Shola did really score a hattrick !!!!

To wrap up for the night a warning to any facebookers out there. The story is available here
but the offending profile info is below....

Such a fitting quote

2009-08-13T02:39:00.001+01:00

Goodbye To A True Legend

2009-08-02T21:08:00.015+01:00

Defied advice and turned up at St James last Sunday to attend his charity match in person because he didnt want to let anyone down. He got to see 1 more game and recieve the adulation and ovations that he richly deserved. RIP Sir Bobby
.

Website Of The Month

THE SIR BOBBY ROBSON FOUNDATION

Live Poker Performance Of The Month - James Akenhead
Online Poker Performance Of The Month - Soap
.
Other Usual Awards back in August

WSOP Final Table / Nov 9

2009-07-30T01:58:00.010+01:00

2009

58.93m - Darvin Moon

34.80m - Eric Buchman

29.88m - Steven Begleiter (GEORDIE)

19.58m - Jeff Shulman

13.21m - Joe Cada

12.39m - Kevin Schaffel

09.76m - Phil Ivey

09.50m - Antoine Saout

06.80m - James Akenhead (ENGLISH)

***

Steven Begleiter

Age: 47

Resides: Chappaqua, Westchester County, New York, USA

Entered the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event through the Newcastle Poker Tour and poker league, and is now a member of the famously watched November Nine. Whatever his final total cash winnings are, he intends to share 20% of it with his hometown poker league. Since arriving in June he has become acquainted with, and will now share the experience of this event with Kevin Schaffel.
Yes there is a Newcastle near New York but word on the vine is that he flew over to try out the Bigg Market and ended up at a local pub game where he won his seat before going back to the States ***

*** Disclaimer - above may be totally bollox :)

Previous Years Starting Stacks

2007

22.07m Philip Hilm - Finished 9th !!!
21.31m Tuan Lam
20.32m Jon Kalmar
16.32m Raymond Rahme
13.24m Lee Childs
09.92m Lee Watkinson
09.20m Hevad "Rain" Khan
08.45m Jerry Yang - WON
06.57m Alex Kravchenko
---------------------------------------------------------------------

2008

26.29m Dennis Phillips - Finished 3rd
24.40m Ivan Demidov
19.69m Scott Montgomery
18.37m Peter Eastgate - WON
12.52m Ylon Schwartz
12.52m Darus Suharto
10.23m David 'Chino' Rheem
10.21m Craig Marquis
02.62m Kelly Kim

LEGEND

2009-07-26T20:25:00.004+01:00

www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.co.uk

Pretty Hand

2009-07-23T23:29:00.004+01:00

But luck ran out later . Busted in 3rd. Got it in after the turn with top set and got crippled by flush on the river. One of those things especially in Omaha. Didnt deserve to win as had night platform after above hand. Was running over the table and then got cocky and showed a couple of bluffs. Wasnt so much outplaying as just trying to get action as was knackered and just wanted the game over. A near 60k pot went away on a semi bluff and elimination followed next hand. Was good to get back to a shortish game (2-3 hours) but no point playing anything if tired.

Out tomorrow so might play a few hands on Saturday wait and see. Sunday i might go and see the Bobby Robson game at St James. Shame Shearer is playing as to not be would mean we would have him as our manager. Still never mind. part and parcel of supporting an utter shambles like Newcastle.

Yet again though the fans are coming up trumps. Relegation, no manager. 2 previous ones are either taking us to court or on the sick with a dodgy ticker. Yet despite that, relegation. cockney spivs in charge, no players coming in, loads (ok a couple) of decent players leaving or being linked with moves. Overpriced tossers saying balls, i think i will stay and sit on my 60k a week.
Yet despite all this there is still word that there have been 30,000 tickets sold.
Add the late sales, the 3,000 away fans and those that turn up on the day and every home championship game this season looks to be between 35,000 - 40,000 attendance.
Truly the best fans in the country. Imagine if we were good and won stuff !!!!

Funny as fuck this week.....
Beckham trying to act hard then bricking when confronted
Sven at Notts County - just call yourself a football whore :)
Steve Gerrard chinning the dj and saying it was self defence
Peter Crouch fucking off the mackems for a bigger club like Fulham
20 man handbags battle at Huddersfield vs Newcastle

Sick as fuck this week
Michael "now with players on my wavelength" Owen. - WANKER
People wanting Freddie Shepherd back in charge of Newcastle.
Chris Hughton being a manager
People thinking Thierry Henry as good as Gazza :

WSOP MAIN EVENT NOVEMBER 9

2009-07-16T19:10:00.005+01:00

9 Millionaires (gtd $1.26m)

One is the next World Champion

.
Antoine "Tonio" Saout, FRANCE

Darwin Moon, USA

Eric Buchman, USA

James Akenhead, ENGLAND

Jeff Shulman, USA

Joseph Cada, USA

Kevin Schaffel, USA

Phil Ivey, USA

Steven Begleiter, USA

WSOP Main Event - Day 8 (Updated at...)

2009-07-15T21:05:00.017+01:00

Details HERE Chipcounts HERE

Time Updated 01:30

Blinds 100k / 200k (30k ante)

Average Stack 13.91m

Still in 14 - Play till 9 left

Antoine Saout
Ben Lamb
Bill Kopp
Darvin Moon
Eric Buchman
James Akenhead (10.2m)
James Calderaro
Jamie Robins
Jeff Shulman
Jordan Smith
Joseph Cada
Kevin Schaffel
Nick Mamone
Phil Ivey (7.8m)
Steven Begleiter

Brits who Cashed
041 - Adam York ($178k)
042 - Jeff Duvall ($178k)
189 - Jamie Brown ($57k)
113 - Dwayne Stacey ($40k)
114 - Karl Mahrenholz ($40k)
115 - Chuck Clark ($40k)
139 - Ian Woodley ($40k)
156 - Chris Bjorin ($40k)
163 - Adam Latimer ($36k)
170 - Michael Greco ($36k)
200 - Kevin Jenkins ($36k)
294 - James Keys ($29k)
323 - Kyriasco Dionysiou ($29k)
341 - Jamie Roberts ($29k)
351 - Andy Black ($29k)
356 - Mike Brooks ($29k)
394 - Daniel Rudd ($27k)
401 - Jarrod Holmes($27k)
402 - Jeff Kimber ($27k)
452 - Surinder Sunar ($25)
460 - Dinar Brivati ($25k)
468 - Daniel Carter ($25k)
490 - Will Brewin ($25k)
514 - Christoher Brammer ($23k)
520 - Colin Tang ($23k)
534 - Raymond Munster ($23k)
545 - Joey Lovelady ($23k)
549 - Nik Persaud ($23k)
580 - Kevin Dean ($21k)
585 - Kevin Allen ($21k)

WSOP Day 7 - Updated Regularly

2009-07-14T21:15:00.019+01:00

Details HERE Chipcounts HERE

Excellent Real Time Live Updates care of the HITSQUAD

Time Updated 10:00

Blinds 40k / 80k (10k ante)

Average Stack 6.7m

Still in 29 - (1 Brits, 2 Names, 1 Lady) - Play till 27 left

Andrew Lichtenberger
Antoine Saout
Antonio Esfandiari
Ben Lamb
Bill Kopp
Darvin Moon
Eric Buchman
Francois Balmigere
George Caragiorgas
Ian Tavelli
James Akenhead
James Calderaro
Jamie Robins
Jeff Shulman
Jesse Haabak
Jonathan Tamayo
Jordan Smith
Joseph Cada
Kevin Schaffel
Leo Margets
Ludovic Lacay
Marco Mattes
Nick Mamone
Phil Ivey
Steven Begleiter
Tommy Vedes
Warren Zackey

Brits who Cashed
041 - Adam York ($178k)
042 - Jeff Duvall ($178k)
189 - Jamie Brown ($57k)
113 - Dwayne Stacey ($40k)
114 - Karl Mahrenholz ($40k)
115 - Chuck Clark ($40k)
139 - Ian Woodley ($40k)
156 - Chris Bjorin ($40k)
163 - Adam Latimer ($36k)
170 - Michael Greco ($36k)
200 - Kevin Jenkins ($36k)
294 - James Keys ($29k)
323 - Kyriasco Dionysiou ($29k)
341 - Jamie Roberts ($29k)
351 - Andy Black ($29k)
356 - Mike Brooks ($29k)
394 - Daniel Rudd ($27k)
401 - Jarrod Holmes($27k)
402 - Jeff Kimber ($27k)
452 - Surinder Sunar ($25)
460 - Dinar Brivati ($25k)
468 - Daniel Carter ($25k)
490 - Will Brewin ($25k)
514 - Christoher Brammer ($23k)
520 - Colin Tang ($23k)
534 - Raymond Munster ($23k)
545 - Joey Lovelady ($23k)
549 - Nik Persaud ($23k)
580 - Kevin Dean ($21k)
585 - Kevin Allen ($21k)

WSOP Main Event - Day 6 Over

2009-07-14T09:44:00.002+01:00

Details HERE
Chipcounts HERE

08:00 BST - Time Updated
64 Players Remaining
20k / 40k (5k ante) Blinds
3.0 Million - Average Stack
9.7 Million - Chip Leader

Still In - 3 Brits, 5 Names, 1 Lady

Adam York
Antonio Esfandiari
Dennis Phillips
James Akenhead
Jeff Duvall
Joe Sebok
Leo Margets
Phil Ivey
Prahlad Friedman

Nichoel Peppe (75th)
750k left. Shoved J4o, walked into AA

Peter Eastgate (78th)
445k left - Ax Jx vs 8h 8x on 6d Ah 4h Jh 3h board - Top2 flushed out

Noah Boeken (96th)
T 5 2 flop . Noah jammed with 6 5 . Pham had 10 10

Brits who Cashed
089 - Jamie Brown ($57k)
113 - Dwayne Stacey ($40k)
114 - Karl Mahrenholz ($40k)
115 - Chuck Clark ($40k)
139 - Ian Woodley ($40k)
156 - Chris Bjorin ($40k)
163 - Adam Latimer ($36k)
170 - Michael Greco ($36k)
200 - Kevin Jenkins ($36k)
294 - James Keys ($29k)
323 - Kyriasco Dionysiou ($29k)
341 - Jamie Roberts ($29k)
351 - Andy Black ($29k)
356 - Mike Brooks ($29k)
394 - Daniel Rudd ($27k)
401 - Jarrod Holmes($27k)
402 - Jeff Kimber ($27k)
452 - Surinder Sunar ($25)
460 - Dinar Brivati ($25k)
468 - Daniel Carter ($25k)
490 - Will Brewin ($25k)
514 - Christoher Brammer ($23k)
520 - Colin Tang ($23k)
534 - Raymond Munster ($23k)
545 - Joey Lovelady ($23k)
549 - Nik Persaud ($23k)
580 - Kevin Dean ($21k)
585 - Kevin Allen ($21k)

WSOP Main Event - Day 6 (Updated during play)

2009-07-13T19:56:00.022+01:00

DINNER BREAK

02:50 BST - Time Updated

101 Players Remaining

23 Level

12k / 24k (3k ante) Blinds

1.9 Million - Average Stack

5.7 Million - Chip Leader

Still In - 4 Brits, 1 Champion, 6 Names, 2 Ladies

Adam York
Antonio Esfandiari
Dennis Phillips
James Akenhead
Jamie Brown
Jeff Duvall
Joe Sebok
Leo Margets
Nichoel Peppe
Noah Boeken
Peter Eastgate (Last Champ Standing)
Phil Ivey
Prahlad Friedman

Latest Eliminations.....

JC Tran
busted by Phillips. Flop T 9 2. Tran put last 80k with A6. Dennis had QT and held

Karl Mahrenholz
AQ vs KK all in pre

Chuck Clark
77 vs KJ (French Geezer) Jack on the turn

Joe Hachem
out , got short pushed with J9 , busted by 44

David Benyamine
out - AA loses to 33 on 973 flop

Brits who Cashed
113 - Dwayne Stacey ($40k)
114 - Karl Mahrenholz ($40k)
115 - Chuck Clark ($40k)
139 - Ian Woodley ($40k)
156 - Chris Bjorin ($40k)
163 - Adam Latimer ($36k)
170 - Michael Greco ($36k)
200 - Kevin Jenkins ($36k)
294 - James Keys ($29k)
323 - Kyriasco Dionysiou ($29k)
341 - Jamie Roberts ($29k)
351 - Andy Black ($29k)
356 - Mike Brooks ($29k)
394 - Daniel Rudd ($27k)
401 - Jarrod Holmes($27k)
402 - Jeff Kimber ($27k)
452 - Surinder Sunar ($25)
460 - Dinar Brivati ($25k)
468 - Daniel Carter ($25k)
490 - Will Brewin ($25k)
514 - Christoher Brammer ($23k)
520 - Colin Tang ($23k)
534 - Raymond Munster ($23k)
545 - Joey Lovelady ($23k)
549 - Nik Persaud ($23k)
580 - Kevin Dean ($21k)
585 - Kevin Allen ($21k)

WSOP Main Event- Day 5 (Updated reguarlarly)

2009-07-12T18:50:00.035+01:00

Play has ended for the day

185 Players Remaining
(Play to 99 on Monday. to 27 on Tuesday, to 9 on Wednesday)

03:00 BST - Time Updated

Level 20 - 6k / 12k (2k ante)

1 Million - Average Stack
5 Million - Chip Leader - Warren Zachey

Still In (Brits / Irish , Champions , Names , Ladies)

1.0m Adam Latimer
700k Adam York
550k Chris Bjorin
1.8m Chuck Clark
530k Dwayne Stacey
1.0m Ian Woodley
2.9m James Akenhead
760k Jamie Brown
720k Jeff Duvall
760k Karl Mahrenholz
560k Michael Greco

1.0m Joe Hachem
927k Peter Eastgate

430k Antonio Esfandiari
1.4m Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier
640k David Benyamine
735k Dennis Phillips
1.1m Joe Sebok
390k Lou Diamond Phillips
2.4m Noah Boeken
1.3m Phil Ivey
760k Prahlad Friedman

480k Leo Margets
1.6m Nichoel Peppe

11 Brits , 2 Champs , 9 Names , 2 Ladies

Brits who Cashed
200 - Kevin Jenkins ($36k)
294 - James Keys ($29k)
323 - Kyriasco Dionysiou ($29k)
341 - Jamie Roberts ($29k)
351 - Andy Black ($29k)
356 - Mike Brooks ($29k)
394 - Daniel Rudd ($27k)
401 - Jarrod Holmes($27k)
402 - Jeff Kimber ($27k)
452 - Surinder Sunar ($25)
460 - Dinar Brivati ($25k)
468 - Daniel Carter ($25k)
490 - Will Brewin ($25k)
514 - Christoher Brammer ($23k)
520 - Colin Tang ($23k)
534 - Raymond Munster ($23k)
545 - Joey Lovelady ($23k)
549 - Nik Persaud ($23k)
580 - Kevin Dean ($21k)
585 - Kevin Allen ($21k)

WSOP Main Event - Day 5

2009-07-12T15:36:00.002+01:00

Bubble is just a memory. Now we look towards big prizes and eventual winner

expected to be 4 x 2 hour levels tonight

Players / stats etc added 7pm

then post is updated reguarly throughout the night

WSOP Day 4 - Updated at time shown on post

2009-07-11T20:28:00.016+01:00

486 Players Remaining (648 Cash)

02:45 BST - Time Updated

CURRENT CHIPCOUNTS HERE

Still In (Brits / Irish , Champions , Names)

Adam Latimer
Adam York
Albert Kenny
Andy Black
Antonio Esfandiari
Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier
Bobby Baldwin
Chris Bjorin
Christopher Brammer
Chuck Clark
Colin Tang
Dan Harrington
Daniel Carter
Daniel Rudd
David Benyamine
Dennis Phillips
Dino Brivati
Dwayne Stacey
Ian Woodley
James Akenhead
James Keys
Jamie Brown
Jamie Roberts
Jarrod Holmes
Jeff Duvall
Jeff Kimber
Joe Hachem
Joe Sebok
Joey Lovelady
Justin Bonomo
Kara Scott
Karl Mahrenholz
Keir Fitz-Gibbon
Kelly Kim
Kevin Allen
Kevin Dean
Kevin Jenkins
Kyriacos "Greek Jack" Dionysiou
Lou Diamond Phillips
Michael Greco
Mike "Smart Money" Brooks
Mike Sexton
Nicky Power
Nik Persaud
Noah Boeken
Paul Wasicka
Peter Eastgate
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
Prahlad Friedman
Sorel Mizzi
Surinder Sunar
Vitaly Lunkin
Will Brewin

BRIT CASHES

tbc Raymond Muster $21,365

585 Kevin Allen $21,365

Kia Hamadani is eliminated as the bubble boy as the Amazon Room exploded into a round of applause and cheers.Hamadani was then introduced to the room as it was announced that he wouldn't quite go home empty-handed as the WSOP and Jack Link's would pay his buy-in into the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event!

WSOP Main Event Day 4

2009-07-11T18:57:00.005+01:00

Playing tonight - 789

Get Paid 648

Playing to 400
(or end of 4 x 2 hour levels)

We concentrate on our 64 listed players
(39 Brits & Irish , 6 Former Winners , 19 Main Names)

1.3m - Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier

794k - James Akenhead
639k - Adam Latimer
517k - Justin Bonomo
510k - Dennis Phillips
485k - Phil Hellmuth
456k - Kara Scott
443k - Jamie Brown
414k - Mike Sexton
388k - Brian Lemke
381k - David Benyamine
371k - Phil Ivey
365k - Prahlad Friedman
363k - Chuck Clark
359k - Lou Diamond Phillips
346k - Kelly Kim
332k - Daniel Rudd
298k - Dwayne Stacey
297k - Joe Sebok
297k - Sorel Mizzi
294k - Paul Wasicka
292k - Peter Eastgate
291k - Kevin Allen
290k - Jeff Kimber
283k - Antonio Esfandiari
279k - Adam York
277k - Andy Black
272k - Hevad Khan
271k - Kyriacos "Greek Jack" Dionysiou
252k - Chris Bjorin
251k - Jeff Duvall
249k - Joey Lovelady
239k - Joe Hachem
234k - James Keys
232k - Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
222k - Karl Mahrenholz
221k - Jamie Roberts
220k - Dino Brivati
207k - Jarrod Holmes
193k - Bobby Baldwin
192k - Raymond Muster
189k - Mike "Smart Money" Brooks
188k - Michael Greco
187k - Dan Harrington
180k - Kevin Jenkins
180k - Noah Boeken
179k - Keir Fitz-Gibbon
167k - Surinder Sunar
159k - Vitaly Lunkin
156k - Christopher Brammer
149k - Catherine Hearn
113k - Will Brewin
101k - Greg Mueller

96k - Ian Woodley
89k - Colin Tang
86k - Steven Milligan
85k - Nik Persaud
81k - Daniel Carter
75k - Neil Suarez
66k - Albert Kenny
59k - Kevin Dean
56k - Richard Dawson
34k - Andy Fields

DNR Nicky Power

WSOP Main Event - Day 3 Latest

2009-07-10T20:04:00.028+01:00

is OVER

Report avail HERE

2044 started tonight 789 remain

Amongst those that we lost were
Adam Junglen
Barney Boatman
Carlos Mortensen
Darus Suharto
Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott
Eric "Rizen" Lynch
Erik Seidel
Greg Raymer
Humberto Brenes
James Keys
Jeff Lisandro
Jennifer Harman
Jim Bechtel
Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke
Joe Beever
Jon Juanda
Josh Ariah
Liz Lieu
Mark Teltscher
Matt Hawrilenko
Pamela Brunson
Roland De Wolfe
Sam Farha
Shane Warne
Terrence Chan

The Brits and Irish That Have Made WSOP Day 3

2009-07-09T22:47:00.005+01:00

Stacks rounded up / down to nearest thousand

360k - Jamie Brown
340k -Adam Latimer
278k - James Keys
273k - Mike "Smart Money" Brooks
240k - James Akenhead
239k - Daniel Carter
226k - Joey Lovelady
215k - Andy Black
202k - Chuck Clark
187k - Mark Skrypec
186k - Neil Suarez
182k - Tommy Pavlicek
176k - Asa Smith
169k - Jamie Roberts
162k - Dwayne Stacey
158k - Stu Nicholson
156k - Matthew Hoffman
156k - Stephen Devins
151k - Dino Brivati
151k - Ian Woodley
150k - Stephen Mills
149k - Will Brewin
145k - Daniel Rudd
145k - Henkryk Nowakowski
144k - Levi Nicolas
143k - Simon Zacharias
140k - Michael O'Sullivan
139k - Kara Tobin
134k - Keir Fitz-Gibbon
133k - Christopher Salem
132k - Rory Brennan
129k - Stuart Taylor
127k - Jeff Kimber
126k - Andy Fields
121k - Nadir Jorephani
118k - Andy Ward
118k - Charles Chattha
115k - Michael Greco
114k - Julian Gardner
101k - Allan Peers
100k - Adam York

99k - Kyriacos Dionysiou
99k - Markus Otto
97k - Mark Bramley
95k - Ali Sarkeshik
95k - Karl Mahrenholz
94k - Christopher Brammer
94k - Jeff Duvall
94k - Martin Adeniya
93k - Steven Milligan
88k - Raymond Muster
87k - David Tighe
86k - Kevin Jenkins
85k - Laurence Houghton
83k - Peter Haslam
81k - Joe Beevers
73k - Craig Hopkins
72k - Lam Trinh
72k - Nicky Power
72k - Stuart Atkins
71k - Anthony Fagan
70k - Kevin Dean
69k - Catherine Hearn
69k - Robin Keston
68k - Colin Tang
66k - Albert Kenny
66k - Jarrod Holmes
66k - Paul O'Connor
63k - Barney Boatman
61k - Kevin Allen
56k - James Smyth
54k - Surinder Sunar
52k - David Welch
50k - Steve Jelinek
49k - Louise Duffy
48k - Jason Schacter
47k - Scott Reid
46k - Gary Fisher
46k - Ian McDonald
46k - Jesse O'Shea
45k - Zvi Groysman
44k - Richard Dawson
42k - Paul Febers
41k - Jonathan Reynolds
40k - Karl Fenton
35k - Mark Teltscher
34k - Anthony Forsyth-Forrest
33k - Peter Seager
30k - Shane Hellyer
26k - Brad Viner
26k - Chris Bjorin
26k - Nik Persaud
25k - Jonathan Lewis
21k - Roland De Wolfe
20k -Andrew McGill
19k - Paul Westley
18k - Andrew Seabright
11k - Leo Pope

(Selected Foreign "Names" on previous post)

WSOP - Day 2B

2009-07-08T21:16:00.010+01:00

Is Over - Details HERE

6494 started last Friday
2044 resume this Friday on day 3 when the whole field joins together

648 will get paid and the Prizepool is HERE

The New Post will show the surviving Brits n Irish

Surviving "Names"

346k - Phil Ivey
287k - Greg Mueller
284k - J.C. Tran
229k - Jeff Lisandro
223k - Justin Bonomo
217k - Brian Lemke
207k - Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier
192k - Lou Diamond Phillips
190k - Dennis Phillips
181k - Dan Harrington
173k - Shane Warne
169k - Mike Sexton
166k - Sorel Mizzi
163k - Dutch Boyd
147k - Adam Junglen
142k - Phil Hellmuth
139k - Kara Scott
139k - Pamela Brunson
138k - Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke
138k - Joe Hachem
135k - Jim Bechtel
135k - Vitaly Lunkin
130k - Hevad Khan
126k - Josh Arieh
122k - Joe Sebok
122k - Kelly Kim
119k - Peter Jepson
112k - Toto Leonidas
110k - Peter Eastgate
108k - Antonio Esfandiari

95k - Greg Raymer
83k - Bobby Baldwin
78k - Darus Suharto
76k - Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
68k - Jennifer Harman
66k - Terrence Chan
65k - Matt Hawrilenko
57k - Carlos Mortensen
55k - Erik Seidel
39k - John Juanda
37k - Humberto Brenes
30k - Liz Lieu

WSOP - Day 2A

2009-07-07T20:25:00.015+01:00

IS OVER

FULL Day 2A Chip Counts are HERE

Selected Counts (Brits n Irish in Blue - Eyecandy in Pink)

360k - Jamie Brown
287k - Greg Mueller
239k - Daniel Carter
226k - Joey Lovelady
215k - Andy Black
173k - Shane Warne
169k - Mike Sexton
166k - Sorel Mizzi
151k - Dino Brivati
149k - Will Brewin
145k - Daniel Rudd
145k - Henkryk Nowakowski
140k - Michael O'Sullivan
139k -Kara Scott
139k - Kara Tobin
139k - Pamela Brunson
138k - Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke
135k - Jim Bechtel
135k - Vitaly Lunkin
133k - Christopher Salem
132k - Rory Brennan
129k - Stuart Taylor
122k - Joe Sebok
115k - Michael Greco
114k - Julian Gardner
101k - Allan Peers

99k - Markus Otto
97k - Mark Bramley
95k - Greg Raymer
94k - Christopher Brammer
94k - Jeff Duvall
94k - Martin Adeniya
88k - Raymond Muster
86k - Kevin Jenkins
83k - Peter Haslam
76k - Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
73k - Craig Hopkins
73k - Jason Alexander
72k - Nicky Power
72k - Stuart Atkins
69k - Catherine Hearn
66k - Albert Kenny
66k - Paul O'Connor
63k - Barney Boatman
57k - Carlos Mortensen
56k - James Smyth
55k - Erik Seidel
50k - Steve Jelinek
46k - Ian McDonald
35k - Mark Teltscher
30k - Shane Hellyer
26k - Brad Viner
25k - Jonathan Lewis
21k - Roland De Wolfe
19k - Paul Westley
11k - Leo Pope

OUT
Amarillo Slim Preston
Barry Greenstein
Berry Johnston
Brian Townsend
Dewey Tomko
Gavin Smith
Gus Hansen (AJ vs 33 - on board of KQ3T - River K)
Hoyte Corkins
Jack Ury (The 97 year old doubled twice but eventually bust)
Jason Mercier
Jennifer Tilly
John Duthie
John-Paul Kelly
johnny Chan
Juah Helppi
Julian Thew
Katja Thater
Mel Judah
Mike Caro
Mike Matusow
Padraig Parkinson
Phil Laak
Roy Brindley
Shaun Deed
Todd Brunson
Tony G

WSOP - Day 1D

2009-07-07T00:17:00.014+01:00

Is now over
Final Day 1D Chip Counts avail HERE

The numbers have been released... Total Entries - 6,494
(648 get paid with the winner pocketing $8.5 million)

THROUGH TO DAY 2B
75k Antonio Esfandiari
54k Audley Harrison
127k Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
84k Brian Lemke
69k Cyndy Violette
34k Dave Colclough
59k Dave Ulliott
89k Daid Benyamine
121k Dutch Boyd
20k Erick Lindgren
24k Hal Lubarsky (The blind guy)
13k Humberto Brenes
139k J.C. Tran
61k Jennifer Harman
71k Joe Beevers
26k Johnny Loddon
135k Josh Arieh
37k Kathy Liebert
22k Paul "Pab" Foltyn
44k Peter Eastgate
25k Peter Jepsen
84k Phil Ivey
24k Robert Varkonyi
33k Steve Davis
08k Surinder Sunar
24k Tom 'durrrr' Dwan
10k Toto Leonidas
6k Vanessa Rousso

DID NOT SHOW
Tiffany Michelle - Off to be a tv star....

OUT
Adam Clark
Angel Guillen
Brock Parker
Clonie Gowen
Dario Minieri
Huck Seed
Ivan Demidov
Lisa Hamilton
Mark Seif
Mimi Tran
Phil Gordon
Scot Montgomery (Q T vs 7 7 on board of Q 7 J - Turn J , River 6)
Shannon Elizabeth
Shannon Shorr
Shawn Sheikhan
Torrie Wilson

WSOP - Day 1C

2009-07-05T23:02:00.007+01:00

is now finished.
1,696 turned up (Day 1A - 1,116 Day 1B - 873) Total So Far 3,865
To balance field as they expected a low day 1B because of 4th of July
Days 1A & 1B only played 4 x 2 hour levels
Days 1C have and Day 1D will play 5 x 2 hour levels
This will be balanced up with 2A playing an extra level

Full Survivors Chip Counts HERE

Selected Rough Chip Counts
146k Jeff Lisandro
132k Kelly Kim
103k Justin Bonomo
97k Hevad Khan
84k Joe Hachem
82k James Van Alstyne
80k Adam Junglen
76k Dan Harrington
67k Terrence Chan
67k Matt Hawrilenko
62k Dennis Phillips
58k Howard Lederer
57k Scotty Nguyen
54k John Juanda
45k Isabelle Mercier
41k Praz Bansi
39k David Sklansky
31k Karl Mahrenholz
29k Gavin Griffin
27k Phil Hellmuth
16k Neil Channing
14k Liz Lieu

Must be nice to run like Jeff Lisandro - 3 bracelets so far and accumulating chips here fast.
Getting big hands and getting paid with them. Flop is Q 7 10 . 3 way all in. He has A A.
Up against Q T and J J. Turn is a J . River is K for the straight

OUT
Annie Duke
Brandon Cantu
Daniel Negreanu (33 vs QQ on a T 7 T flop. 6 and J didnt help)
David Rheem
Evelyn Ng
Jamie Gold (All in preflop AQ vs JJ)
Marcel Luske
Steve Dannenmann
Tom McEvoy (6 3 2 Flop - all in with T T , walked into Q Q )

WSOP - Day 1B

2009-07-05T18:17:00.003+01:00

is over. 873 turned up to take their chance
(1,989 in total played this main event so far)

Full Chip Counts of All Day 1B Survivors are HERE
Selected Rough Chip Counts Of Day 1B Survivors (Brits Coloured)

78k Joe Sebok
58k Barny Boatman
55k Shaun Deeb
53k Alex Kravchenko
48k Amarillo "Slim" Preston
46k Juah Helppi
45k Hoyt Corkins
43k Greg Raymer
37k Mike Matusow
32k Todd Brunson
30k Jim Bechtel
24k Pam Brunson
24k Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
23k Jack Ury (The 96 year old)
21k Kara Scott
18k Barry Greenstein
18k Eric Seidel
15k Carlos Mortensen
10k Mike Caro

Day 1B Eliminations
Chris Moneymaker
Doyle Brunson (33 vs 65 on board of 9 7 3 4 A)
David Pham (AA vs AK all in preflop - board 5 8 K K 6)
Ronald "Winky" Wright
Vicky Coren (QQ vs KK all in preflop - board 4 2 3 Q K)

WSOP - Day 1A

2009-07-05T00:24:00.006+01:00

is over. 1,116 turned up to take their chance

Full Chip Counts of All Day 1A Survivors are HERE

Selected Rough Chip Counts Of Day 1A Survivors (Brits Coloured)
99k Joey Lovelady
87k Shane Warne
63k Jimmy Fricke (Gobboboy)
53k Phil Laak
42k Tony G
41k Jason Mercier
41k Mike Sexton
39k Roy Brindley
38k Gus Hansen
36k Katja Thater
35k Greg Mueller
35k Michael Greco
34k Dewey Tomko
31k Roland de Wolfe
30k Sam Farha
25k John Duthie
24k John-Paul Kelly
23k Padraig Parkinson
20k Julian Gardner
17k Gavin Smith
13k Jennifer Tilly
09k Brian Townsend
07k Johnny Chan
06k Julian Thew

Notable Out
Allen Cunningham
Andy Bloch
Chris Moorman
Freddy Deeb
Jerry Yang
John Phan
Mark Vos
Men Nyugen

WSOP - Main Event

2009-07-05T00:09:00.002+01:00

Split into segments. Box on left hand side shows links for each day and when they are.
Updates courtesy of the excellent POKERNEWS site.

Live Poker and Gatsby Awards

2009-07-03T22:52:00.004+01:00

Crap weather , heatwave down south, peeing down up here. Sunburn at Wimbledon , Thunder and lightening at Newcastle. Speaking of Wimbledon funny to know 3 hours matters so much
4pm Britains Andy Murray going for Semi Final glory
7pm Scotlands Andy Murray out :)

Had my birthday whilst i was off this week and because it was a midweek i thought quiet couple of pints and a game at the casino. Then i seen a forum post about pub poker. Pretty localish
so thought i would give it a go. £10 entry with £5 rebuys. Self dealt which was a bit scary as ive never done that. I had been out during the day so the addition of night time alcohol meant i was never going to be a serious threat but it was just more for the practise than anything else.

Major hands
KJc - Messy flop but bluff it to take the pot
QQ - Make a boat and get paid off (luckily) vs KK
A9 - Raise 3x utg , next calls. AK* flop - bet it out and King high makes 2 pair on turn
T5c - gamble before rebuy to try and double and lose to A*
JTh raise , 872 flop with 2 hearts. Push and BB has the 8 and its goodnight.

Prob a bit rash but 30 min levels and wanted to accumulate. Plus alcohol and patience dont go together. Will give it another go but next time wont be a birthday so just soda water me thinks
Missed out on the final table but actually ended up as dealer as im not much cop as a railer and i didnt want to leg it home early. Not sure of the exact order that finished as still learning names n faces but got a message off Koyte from the Newcastle Poker Forum and the FT was Brian, Graham, Karl Jr, Karl Sr, Koyte, Lee, Lindsey, Tony.

A bit more fast n furious than a casino and as the ale flows opinions can get heated but overall good craic and something well worth trying. A deal heads up brought the night to a close. Brian won the sudden death 5 card turnover for the odd cash remaining and that was that.

Poker, Beer, Fun and they chuck in Curry n Chips at break time too.
What more could you want. Well winning would be nice haha but always next time.

Right round the post up with Junes Ukgatsby Poker Blog Awards

Joint Live Poker Performances Of The Month
John Kabbah ($10k buy in Pot Limit Hold'em World Championship)
John-Paul Kelly ($1.5k buy in Pot Limit Hold'em)
Roland de Wolfe ($5k buy in Pot Limit Omaha Hi /Lo)
Brits winning a bracelet at the WSOP is good enough for me :)

Online Poker Performance Of The Month
Fenix35 - Hammered in a very very nice result in the $109 buy in $12.5k gtd on Hills.
Over $3.4k shipped for the win. This followed an amazing 16th out of 3875 in the Full Tilt $750k gtd . Just under $4k won for that and on the same night as a mid cash in the Stars Million.
A fabulous June for Fenix35 , in form so lets see what the rest of 09 brings

Blog / Website Of The Month
Teamdobbs - The poker content is good. The Pet Taxi tales are world class. A Star is born. Make sure you read all of the Pet Taxi tales from the start in order. An absolutely class read. Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7

Website Of The Month
Cardkings - Poker articles and bulletins, reviews, bonuses, rakeback. Lot of handy stuff in the same place and well worth a look

Babe Of The Month
Farrah Fawcett - taken from us by Cancer but her death overshadowed a bit with the passing of Michael Jackson on the same day. The picture chosen is the one that sold 12 million posters

Hero Of The Month
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer - A former WSOP main event champion who went deep (25th) in his defence and nearly pulled off a miracle back to back. Always happy to do an interview or sign an autograph or as some railers at an EPT found out join a 100 euro SNG.. Got interviewed by one of the guys at Newcastle Poker Forum. He then takes the time to google it and join !!!!

Knob Of The Month
Michael Owen - See the main post further down (or by clicking his name). Final insult is that he delayed talks with Man Utd so he could claim a bonus months salary even though his contract had ran out. Thats right he had a clause that even when his contract ran out he would get paid a months salary each month he hadnt signed for a new club (clause lasted till the transfer window at end of August)

Right thats it for now.
Good luck all (especially those in Vegas) and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Gatsby Awards and Live Pub Game

2009-07-03T12:59:00.002+01:00

Details posted later :)

56 WSOP Bracelets Awarded - 1 More To Go !!!

2009-07-03T12:23:00.005+01:00

The Series is now onto the final event, The Main Event. Day 1A starts today and the quest for immortality begins. Its been a good series so far and your champions are...

The Multi Men
Jeffrey Lisandro (3 Bracelets)
Brock Parker (2 Bracelets)
Greg Mueller (2 Bracelets)
Phil Ivey (2 Bracelets)

The Brits
John Kabbah ($10k buy in Pot Limit Hold'em World Championship)
John-Paul Kelly ($1.5k buy in Pot Limit Hold'em)
Roland de Wolfe ($5k buy in Pot Limit Omaha Hi /Lo)

The Rest
Abe Mosseri
Andrew Cohen
Angel Guillen
Anthony Harb
Bahador Ahmadi
Brandon Cantu
Brian Lemke
Carsten Joh
Daniel Alaei
David Bach
David Halpern
Derek Raymond
Eric Baldwin
Freddie Ellis
J.C.Tran
James van Alstyne
Jason Mercier
Jeffrey Carris
Jerrod Ankenmen
Jordan Smith
Jorg Peisert
Ken Aldridge
Keven Stammen
Leo Wolper
Lisa Hamilton
Marc Naalden
Matt Graham
Matt Hawrilenko
Michael Davis
Mike Eise
Nick Schulman
Panayote Vilandos
Peter Traply
Rami Boukai
Ray Foley
Richard Austin
Steve Sung
Thang Luu
Tomas Alenius
Tony Veckey
Travis Johnson
Ville Wahlbeck
Vitaly Lunkin
Zac Fellows

Full Details of each event are on the left hand side menus.

The recognised world championship events are in the first box.

The rest in the 2nd .

Now we just wait to see who wins Event 57. But its going to take a while !!!

03 July - Day 1A - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels - Remaining play Day 2A
04 July - Day 1B - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels - Remaining play Day 2A
05 July - Day 1C - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels - Remaining play Day 2B
06 July - Day 1D - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels - Remaining play Day 2B

07 July - Day 2A - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels
08 July - Day 2B - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels

10 July - Day 3 - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels

11 July - Day 4 - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels

12 July - Day 5 - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels

13 July - Day 6 - Play 5 x 2 Hour Levels

14 July - Day 7 - Play Until 27 Players Remain

15 July - Day 8 - Play Until 9 Players Remain

November (tbd) - Final Table

Sunday Donkaments & Glastonbury

2009-06-28T23:53:00.007+01:00

Another 5 hours wasted in the $3 rebuy $50k gtd on Stars again
7,956 stepped upto the plate and tonight i busted in 406th
AJ sooted in BB mullered by buttons K3o on a A37 Flop

Maybe next time. Just gotta win the 10 all ins whether ahead or not to get in a decent pos. Pining for my 200 runners on Crypto haha.

Had Glastonbury on in the background. Stunning Sunday night this year.
The Prodigy, Blur, BlackEyed Peas - does it get much better than that.

The only downside to the whole Glastonbury experience is the whiney Jo Whiley
She is in my gang of 4 that i would rather chew a wasp than shag...

01 Davina McCall
02 Kate Thornton
03 Zoe Ball
04 Jo Whiley

Back to Poker and the WSOP is winding down (latest updates on the left hand side). The Main Event starts next Friday. Shame they are going to do another November Final Table though. Back to now though and we have yet another British Bracelet winner in John Kabbaj who won the $10k buy in World Championship PLHE
The main man so far though is Jeff Lisandro who has won an amazing 3 bracelets this month. 2 in 7 card stud and the other in Razz. Thats a lot of bucks and a lot of bling !!!!

Right, thats it for now. Gatsby awards later on in the week so any nominations to the usual catergories are welcome.

Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett die

2009-06-28T10:28:00.005+01:00

The king of pop and the first lady i had a crush on and dont think i missed and episode of Charlies Angels that she was in.

The only sure thing in life is death and taxes so if you cant laugh then you will only cry.
So my only comment will be the following which was sent to me the other day...

What is the difference between Michael and Farrah ???

Farrah fu**ed Majors

Late Edit
Had one posted in comments by V.O.J

Whats difference between Jacko and Sir Alex Ferguson ???
Fergie will be playing Gig(g)s in August :D

41st of 6,958

2009-06-25T01:47:00.003+01:00

for $123 in the $3 rebuy $50k gtd
(doubled at start and took add on so in for $9.30)
6.5 hours and so near but so far. $9k for the winner.

Lost a raise, reraise shove button vs small blind carnage.
Walked into AK , he flopped the King and got the 2.5 million pot.
Got lucky earlier (as you need to in these when QQ beat JJ and KK earlier)
plus i did pop my Million chips cherry which was momentous :)

Finished 64th of 926 in the $2k added game.
Knackered now so kip time. Will prob play SuperSeries on Hills on Friday
Updated WSOP status links on left

Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

ps its exactly 6 months to Christmas.

Finally, at 1am on Thursday 25th June 2009

2009-06-25T01:10:00.001+01:00

Michael Owen To Leave Newcastle Next Week

2009-06-23T13:18:00.003+01:00

After a £16m transfer fee and £20m worth of wages over 4 years.
His comments.....

"It remains to be seen where I am going to go, there are plenty of clubs that would interest me, but we will see where that is, whether it is at home or abroad.
"There has been a lot of interest from abroad and quite a bit from home as well, but obviously the Premier League is where I feel I belong.
"I played a year out in Spain and enjoyed it at Real Madrid but that confirmed to me that I definitely prefer the Premier League, so if it was to be a good English club, that would be my preference, but I have had a lot of interest from abroad so I wouldn't rule that out.
"I am still contracted to Newcastle for a few weeks, so that is where I am at the minute. I don't think I am going to be re-signing at Newcastle, as one I don't think I am going to be offered a new contract and I want to play in the Premier League or a top division somewhere else.
"I haven't been made aware of that (interest from Hull City), it is a new one - but I have been linked with virtually every team in last few weeks.
"I will sit down but I don't think it is fair to Newcastle at the moment. I had four enjoyable years there, and I am very sorry to leave them when they are going to be in the Championship so I wouldn't like to talk about specific clubs who I am going to join.
"There is a lot said and written about me in last few weeks and not many nice things, but that is life!
"I have got skin thicker than 99.9 per cent of the population. I get used to it - people write you off but when I scored a goal in the World Cup at 18, people were writing me off six months later. Then I was scoring a hat-trick in Germany and winning trophies with Liverpool and then they write you off again.
"Somebody will always criticise you no matter what, so if you let that affect you, I wouldn't be where I am today.
"Yes I prefer people to say nice things about me as it is not as if I have murdered someone, but you get more criticism as a footballer and you have to be thick skinned."

Will leave the response to the excellent NUFC.com who posted the following...

Feel free to take your gissa job brochure, your helicopter, your equine fixation and your miserable face to anywhere daft enough to employ you. We're already looking forward to your duet on the KC Stadium pitch with Phil Brown...Don't think that this criticism has anything to do with your fading talents as a footballer though - no, our beef with you remains the four years-worth of utter contempt shown to the people who bought the shirts, seats and subscriptions that funded your lavish lifestyle.

At least people like Joey Barton go through the motions of badge-kissing and patronising the punters. You couldn't even be bothered to do that, spending your time on Tyneside with a face like a smacked arse, interspersed with brief interludes of sucking lemons.

Your skin may be thick but it'll never be as thick as your wallet. Don't feel bad about us though - we'd have only blown the tens of millions of pounds that went into your offshore accounts on other ungrateful pillocks.

No shame, no guts, no soul, but a bulging portfolio. Role model? my arse. You put the con in Icon

Usual Sunday

2009-06-21T23:57:00.003+01:00

No manager, pre season or tours

2009-06-19T00:35:00.003+01:00

but fixtures are out. All those thinking we may bounce straight back should check out August. Could be nearer bottom than top :

Saturday, 08 August 2009
West Brom v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 15 August 2009
Newcastle v Reading, 15:00

Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Newcastle v Sheff Wed, 19:45

Saturday, 22 August 2009
Crystal Palace v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 29 August 2009
Newcastle v Leicester, 15:00

Saturday, 12 September 2009
Cardiff v Newcastle, 15:00

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Blackpool v Newcastle, 19:45

Saturday, 19 September 2009
Newcastle v Plymouth, 15:00

Saturday, 26 September 2009
Ipswich v Newcastle, 15:00

Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Newcastle v QPR, 19:45

Saturday, 03 October 2009
Newcastle v Bristol City, 15:00

Saturday, 17 October 2009
Nottm Forest v Newcastle, 15:00

Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Scunthorpe v Newcastle, 19:45

Saturday, 24 October 2009
Newcastle v Doncaster, 15:00

Saturday, 31 October 2009
Sheff Utd v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 07 November 2009
Newcastle v Peterborough, 15:00

Saturday, 21 November 2009
Preston v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 28 November 2009
Newcastle v Swansea, 15:00

Saturday, 05 December 2009
Newcastle v Watford, 15:00

Tuesday, 08 December 2009
Coventry v Newcastle, 19:45

Saturday, 12 December 2009
Barnsley v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 19 December 2009
Newcastle v Middlesbrough, 15:00

Saturday, 26 December 2009
Sheff Wed v Newcastle, 15:00

Monday, 28 December 2009
Newcastle v Derby, 15:00

Saturday, 09 January 2010
Reading v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 16 January 2010
Newcastle v West Brom, 15:00

Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Newcastle v Crystal Palace, 19:45

Saturday, 30 January 2010
Leicester v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 06 February 2010
Newcastle v Cardiff, 15:00

Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Derby v Newcastle, 19:45

Saturday, 13 February 2010
Swansea v Newcastle, 15:00

Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Newcastle v Coventry, 19:45

Saturday, 20 February 2010
Newcastle v Preston, 15:00

Saturday, 27 February 2010
Watford v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 06 March 2010
Newcastle v Barnsley, 15:00

Saturday, 13 March 2010
Middlesbrough v Newcastle, 15:00

Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Newcastle v Scunthorpe, 19:45

Saturday, 20 March 2010
Bristol City v Newcastle, 15:00

Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Doncaster v Newcastle, 19:45

Saturday, 27 March 2010
Newcastle v Nottm Forest, 15:00

Saturday, 03 April 2010
Peterborough v Newcastle, 15:00

Monday, 05 April 2010
Newcastle v Sheff Utd, 15:00

Saturday, 10 April 2010
Newcastle v Blackpool, 15:00

Saturday, 17 April 2010
Plymouth v Newcastle, 15:00

Saturday, 24 April 2010
Newcastle v Ipswich, 15:00

Sunday, 02 May 2010
QPR v Newcastle, 15:00

The Brits Have Arrived

2009-06-15T10:51:00.004+01:00

and now have won 2 Bracelets !!!

John-Paul Kelly from Amersham, Buckinghamshire wins
Event 20 the $1.5k buy in PLHE .

Roland de Wolfe from London Town wins
Event 27 the $5k buy in Omaha HiLo
and now has a WSOP bracelet to go with his EPT and WPT successes.

Also flying the Union Jack was Michael "Beppe" Greco who finished 3rd in Event 24 for just under a quarter of a million dollars

To keep upto date with various events check out the links on the left. The best updates from the WSOP from PokerNews

WSOP - Phil Ya Boots

2009-06-15T02:25:00.005+01:00

and that is exactly what Mr Ivey is doing in Vegas.
He has joined the 2009 dual bracelet club (along with Brock)

Phil had previously won Event 8 - $2,500 buy in NL Lowball a small field (147 runners) and one of the lowest payouts a bracelet winner will get ($96,361) but its his 6th bracelet and rumours are that winning it has landed him anywhere between $3-12 million in side bets.

No 7 and the 2nd bracelet of 2009 came in Event 25 - $2,500 buy in Omaha Hilo / Stud
376 runners and after running over the final table he won it and the $220,000 prize money.
No reports yet for side bets but i feel sorry for any layers if they offered him odds on winning more than one !!!

Been out all weekend so no tales of poker. Big weekend for main event Satellites. Hopefully someone on the link list can strike lucky and win a package. No word on football either. Newcastle is slowly going down the pan.........

Right kip time. Gl all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Unless a Brit Blogger wins a bracelet.....

2009-06-12T00:59:00.004+01:00

then its a given that the June Gatsby award for live poker performance of the month goes to Brock Parker. As said in previous post he overcame Daniel Negreanu on Sunday night to win event 14 the 367 runner $2.5k buy in 6 Handed FLHE.
As well as the bracelet he wins over $223,000. Nice months work....

But thats not all.... 3 (yes 3) days later he takes down
event 19, the 1067 runner $2.5k buy in 6 Handed NLHE.
Another bracelet and over $552,000 to go with it.

Sunday night wins a bracelet. 12pm Monday back to start Day 1 of his next event. Wonder how many would have chucked it and not turned up preferring to sleep lots or get hammered.

So then he holds the torch for now. Lets hope a Brit can grab it and take down a slice of glory before the month is out. Good luck to all of you

Paul

For Sale

2009-06-08T21:15:00.004+01:00

One Shambles Of A Football Club - Bargain Basement £100,000,000

2 or 3 potential buyers according to the media but who could and would buy
a)Rich foreign billionaire - unlikely but would that be out the frying pan into the fire, Short term boost but long term risk to stability if they got bored
b) uk business - similar to Ashley, no affinity to club and after making a profit but would the club suffer if their main business suffer
c) Fat Fred Shep - Our former chairman who is partly responsible for most of the mess the club is in . God help us if he comes back.

Hopefully, something sorted soon as fixtures will be out soon and at this moment we dont have a manager, we dont have a pre season organised. We have no one to buy players or get rid of the overpriced failures that let us down.

Poker been just as good. Busted in the 50k gtd rebuy 2 nights running with JJ.
First time vs AK and 77 and K9 on a J94 flop . Runner Runner makes a straight for 77 and i swear i knew the 10 was coming on the river !!!

24 hours same tourney, same 100ish from the bubble stage (ish)

*** RIVER *** [6c 7h 9d Ah] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ukgatsby: shows [Js Jc] (a pair of Jacks)
TheRenegadee: shows [8d 8s] (a straight, Five to Nine)

Dunno if its just Stars, On Crypto im convinced one or prob both would have went my way.
The hunt for 1 million chips at the table on Stars continues.

Switched to Hills tonight for the SuperSeries and when KK lost to AK i was at least relieved it was instant to a QJT flop rather than a killer river :) Not really whining, had them sort of flips go for me in the past.

Over in Vegas the prop layers are buying Brock Parker champagne and toasting his absolute brilliance and skill. Not because he won event 14 but because he beat Daniel Negreanu heads up and saved a lot of people a lot of cash in prop bracelet bets. Updates and details for each WSOP event on the left hand side courtesy of the excellent PokerNews

Over in the world of blogging we have Pet Taxi Part 3 on the excellent TeamDobbs. Hilarious. Easy to see why i awarded it my blog / website of the month last month.
On the subject of Gatsby awards a lot of stuff happening in Vegas at the moment but nominations welcome for online perfomance of the month for June or any of the other catagories.

Right poker is switched off for the remainder of the night. So i will bid you good night.
Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

World Series Of Poker (WSOP)

2009-06-06T21:40:00.002+01:00

Best Of The Brit Bloggers So Far
Robert "Animal" Price (Event 3 - $1,500 buy in o8) 4th for $73,405
Praz Bansi (Event 9 - $1,500 buy in 6 handed NLHE) 7th for $42,320
Ben Grundy (Event 10 - $2,500 PL HE/O) 3rd for $99,574

Updates for all events available via the excellent PokerNews
Have split them into events into the box on the left hand side.
Each event lists the winner or the current state of play

Other Highlights so far....

Thang Luu winning Event 3 - $1,500 buy in O8
Not the biggest field by WSOP standards (918 runners) but what makes this special is that he won the same event last year and was second in 2007 !!!!

Phil Ivey winning Event 8 - $2,500 buy in NL Lowball
Another small field (147 runners) and one of the lowest payouts a bracelet winner will get ($96,361) but its his 6th bracelet and rumours are that winning it has landed him over $3 million in side bets

Summers here as is the WSOP

2009-06-03T10:25:00.010+01:00

The time to spend that well earned time off in exotic locations sipping fancy cocktails by the beach next to beautiful tanned women. Well maybe not . More like spending my time off recently either in B&Q , up a ladder or removing carpets and tiles or painting or other dreary stuff. Yup its got to be done but poor planning that its a summer (ish) week off to do it.

Still im done now and back online too, speaking of which you dont half take being online for granted, the week before i was off the only chance i had was checking emails at work and certainly no surfing. In fact the only poker ive played since the last post was a micro session on Stars lasting about 30 mins. 4 tabling $0.25 / $0.50 PLO.

Left with a nice enough little profit mainly thanks to 2 hands....

Dealt to ukgatsby [Ac 4h 6h 2c]
todays bread: folds
magicmike: calls $0.50
djp94: folds
ukgatsby: calls $0.50
Diptam: folds
A1141: calls $0.50
heine1966: folds
CR1948: calls $0.25
Hemi69: checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc 3c Qs]
CR1948: checks
Hemi69: checks
magicmike: checks
ukgatsby: bets $1.50
A1141: folds
CR1948: folds
Hemi69: folds
magicmike: calls $1.50
*** TURN *** [Tc 3c Qs] [6s]
magicmike: checks
ukgatsby: bets $1.50
magicmike: calls $1.50
*** RIVER *** [Tc 3c Qs 6s] [4c]
magicmike: bets $8.10
ukgatsby: raises $24.30 to $32.40
magicmike: raises $36.70 to $69.10 and is all-in
ukgatsby: calls $8.15 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($28.55) returned to magicmike
*** SHOW DOWN ***
magicmike: shows [Kc Ah 2d 9c] (HI: a flush, King high; LO: 6,4,3,2,A)
ukgatsby: shows [Ac 4h 6h 2c] (HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 6,4,3,2,A)
ukgatsby collected $43.30 from pot
magicmike collected $21.65 from pot
ukgatsby collected $21.65 from pot

Dealt to ukgatsby [Jc 2s 4h Kc]
magicmike: folds
djp94: folds
ukgatsby: calls $0.50
Diptam: folds
A1141: folds
heine1966: folds
CR1948: calls $0.50
Hemi69: calls $0.25
todays bread: checks
*** FLOP *** [As Qd Ts]
Hemi69: bets $1.90
todays bread: folds
ukgatsby: raises $2.60 to $4.50
CR1948: folds
Hemi69: raises $10.90 to $15.40
ukgatsby: raises $32.70 to $48.10
Hemi69: calls $27.65 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($5.05) returned to ukgatsby
*** TURN *** [As Qd Ts] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [As Qd Ts 6s] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hemi69: shows [4s Qc Qh Jd] (HI: three of a kind, Queens)
ukgatsby: shows [Jc 2s 4h Kc] (HI: a straight, Ten to Ace)
ukgatsby collected $85.10 from pot

Very fortunate and it just clicked into place at the right time. But gladly taken !!!

You will notice that ive added 4 poker links at the top left. These are
Bankroll Boost , CardKings , PKRrakeclub , ReviewPoker Bonus

They deal with reviewing sites, letting you know what bonuses, freerolls, offers, promotions and rakeback deals are out there. They even go as far to see which sites give a free starting bankroll. Check em out it costs nothing.

Referring to introduction the other good thing about Summer is no bloody football. Although im sure their will be a Dallas like soap opera behind the scenes for the next few months as Mike Ashley attempts to get out of Newcastle with a few quid in his pocket. The one thing i must say in his defence, even if he has done a lot of stuff wrong that if Fat Fred Shep was still in charge with the accounts the way they are and the credit crunch then we might have already been in administration. Another too Fred, you took nearly 100 million out of the club in wages, bonuses and share payments so piss off and stop giving it the "im a fan at heart" routine.

My take on all other things footy related....
Champions League Final - Awesome !! Barca a joy to watch
Messi couldnt head a ball with a top hat on - LOL wp El Tel
FA Cup Final - Didnt watch it, didnt care :)
Gareth Barry - Man City ????? WTF
2010 CL Final on a Saturday Night - Clashes with Eurovision !!!
Steve Bruce to Sunderland - No more pretending to be a Geordie then :)

Also talking with a mackem at work the other week. He done the expected gloating and piss taking and stuff but later said something true. All of this talk of survival Sunday and at the end Sunderland survived and Newcastle went down. Proved one thing, that neither set of fans give a monkeys about Middlesbrough and no matter how much they might argue neither of us consider them local rivals.

Away from the footy and it was the X-Factor final. Diversity deserved to win, Susan Boyle once out of the Priory can melt back into the background before releasing an album next year that makes her a few quid. I picked the top 2 in correct order with only wrong choice for 3rd being Stavros Flatley instead of the sax guy.

Right time to go so will round off with Mays Gatsby Awards

Live Poker Performance Of The Month
Robert "Animal" Price - An online player thats been on my blog links for years. He is over in Vegas for the WSOP and has an amazing start. He actually final tabled event 3 the $1,500 buy in Omaha hi/lo before busting out in 4th place for $73,405. Very nice start and still lots of events to go

Online Poker Performance Of The Month
EvertonYorkie - Earlier this year he won the Pokerstars $3 rebuy (35k gtd) beating a monster field and twice in May he has smashed the bar to repeating it. 3rd of 2,754 and 3rd of 1,665 players each time cashing for over $3.5k. Also got 5th in the $3 rebuy for $2,500 and the cherry on the top winning the $5 rebuy for $7,500. Fabulous achievement to run that deep consistantly in big fields

Blog / Website Of The Month
Teamdobbs - always a good read from my fellow Geordies. Tales of exploits from the local city cardrooms and entertaining stories and posts. Loving the Pet taxi tales stories. Was in hysterics reading them. Quality blog, read it and link it.

Babe Of The Month
Victoria Coren - Its WSOP time so i guess it should be themed with a poker player. Vicky has done the lot, a writer and a journalist, a tv commentator and a successful poker player. Took down the London EPT a couple of years back for a cool million.

Hero Of The Month
Paulo Maldini - Finally retired from football at the age of 39. He played his entire career of nearly 25 years at 1 club. No transfers, no running the contract down and going on a free. Yes he was rewarded well at AC Milan but one club in this day and age !! To think he has won the European Cup / Champions League (5 times) more than most clubs. When you see the modern day prem player signing his 5 year contract you know he is after a move within 2 years. A bit of loyalty goes a long long way

Knobs Of The Month
Frank Cook MP and all of his colleagues that have been caught out in the expenses scandal. The reaction is amazing, they have literally been found guilty of theft and think a simple apology will do it. From claiming staff costs for relatives to flipping around their second home status to Franks ultimate receipt claiming back a £5 charity donation it really makes you sick. Even more so because we have been paying for it all !!!!

Right thats it for now.
Good luck all (especially those in Vegas) and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Down Town

2009-05-25T02:04:00.002+01:00

sang Petula.
We bloody are as well. Nice wicked deflection off Duff (by name and nature in black n white shirt) Bad luck happens but where was the onslaught on the goal as people gave their dying breath hunting for an equaliser.

Newcastle's Premiership adventure is over (for now) See how it goes in the Fizzy league. Heard about the relegation stat and its frightening stuff.

23% of relegated teams bounce back following season
37% of relegated teams take upto 3 years to get back into Prem
40% of relegated teams havent managed to get back yet.

Not the first time ive seen em go down , was in the Gallowgate in 89 when we went. Crap players then but at least they tried. Todays crap just goes through the motions.

Kip time, anyone know where Scunthorpe is ????
Should have passed through the 200,000 hits barrier by tomorrow too although majority will be those bitter mackems looking for their wind ups. Fair does would have loved to stay up and them gits go down but that was maybe hoping for too much :)

Good luck and all that :)
Paul

Richard Whiteley - Countdown Gotcha !!!!

2009-05-20T22:29:00.004+01:00

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT !!!!!

No Sunday Million this weekend

2009-05-20T22:10:00.003+01:00

Was planning to give it a go this weekend with it being the Bank Holiday Monday the day after and thus go deep , stay up half the night, bed at stupid o'clock and sleep it off on Monday
But alas i didnt factor the football in. Obviously i will be out watching Newcastle against Aston Villa trying to avoid relegation.

Will no doubt be having a few drinks too and with it being end of season i might even get a tad smashed :) So it wouldnt be very sensible to then come in and attempt to play a major MTT now would it as we all know drink + poker doesnt mix. Maybe in August then

No major poker news at the moment. Still playing micro cash at the minute and making inroads in the bonus. At rate im going i will hit it no problem within the 2 months allowed but would prob be sectioned. Multi tabling cash just aint my thing. But till i find some MTTs i feel are on a par with Crypto then it will have to do.

Its nearly WSOP time. Anyone getting ready to fly to Vegas i wish you well and hope you have a life changing experience. I would say im jealous but its never really appealled to me . Seems a long way to go for a game of cards but they should try it at least once so maybe next year.

Good luck and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

Premiership Judgement Day - Sun 24 May

2009-05-18T22:31:00.004+01:00

Pts Team (Gd in brackets)

36 Sunderland (-19)

35 Hull (-24)

-------------------------

34 Newcastle (-18)

32 Middlesbrough (-28)

31 West Brom (-31)

Fixtures

Aston Villa vs Newcastle

Hull vs Man Utd

Sunderland vs Chelsea

West Ham vs Middlesbrough

Odds to go down

1/33 Middlesbrough

8/13 Newcastle

15/8 Hull

9/1 Sunderland

Who goes down ?

After all the circus that has went on at St James Park do we get divine inspiration for all the let downs and have the Mackems and the Boro go down. Prob not but you just know that during the 90 mins all teams are going to spend a few minutes in that inrunning 17th place. Its who holds it when its over that counts. Should be a great afternoons entertainment, for the neutrals anyways For the fans involved just pain . Just a normal day at the office being a Newcastle Fan.

Thank Christ the day after is a Bank Holiday Monday. Last time we were this close to relegation was 1992. We nearly slipped into the old 3rd division . A late goal by David Kelly (below) against Portsmouth meant we went to Filbert Street, Leicester knowing a win would keep us up. A Leicester own goal 5 mins into injury time give us the win but results elsewhere meant we were safe anyways.. Fast forward 12 months and we won promotion, another 12 months and we were 3rd in the Premiership. Its went haywire since. DK isnt the most skillful player to ever grace the Toon but 1 goal means he is held in high regard. He even got a standing ovation years later when returning with Sunderland and that just doesnt happen normally...

Hopefully Sunday brings a new hero. I doubt it but you live in hope.

gl all and thanks as ever for reading.

Paul

HERO

Newcastle 3 - 1 Middlesbrough

2009-05-12T23:22:00.002+01:00

Thank god for that !!!!

Table (bottom)

38 Portsmouth
36 Mackems
34 Newcastle
------------------
34 Hull
31 Middlesbrough
31 West Brom

Saturday, 16 May 2009
Bolton v Hull, 15:00
Middlesbrough v Aston Villa, 15:00
Newcastle v Fulham, 15:00

Sunday, 17 May 2009
West Brom v Liverpool, 13:30

Monday, 18 May 2009
Portsmouth v Sunderland, 20:00

Sunday, 24 May 2009
Aston Villa v Newcastle, 16:00
Blackburn v West Brom, 16:00
Hull v Man Utd, 16:00
Sunderland v Chelsea, 16:00
West Ham v Middlesbrough, 16:00
Wigan v Portsmouth, 16:00

This is going to go down to the wire !!!!!

Away from the football, The poker is ok if not unspectacular. $35k gtd the other night with over 1100 runners. Was 5th at the first break. and after 4 hours cruising nicely, bubble burst and 100 left . JJ takes on 77 for a chiplead style pot. 7 on the flop and im out. The gods have decided that rather than $7k ish i will have to settle for $45.

Been playing a little micro stakes cash and enjoying that. Clearing a bit of the bonus too which is also nice. Will prob play the Super Series comps this week as they are half price again.
Have settled on this Will Hill software. Took a bit of getting used to and to be honest its not Crypto but nothing else is. The aim is to try and win enough to pay for an entry in the Sunday Million on pokerstars. Because we have a bank holiday on the 25th that means no work so i can play till 7am, assuming i FT hahaha.

Also fellow players/bloggers i need input for the Gatsby awards. Bound to be something i miss. so any recommendations for any of the awards let me know. Heard of a big win online or bricks n mortar or want to see a particular lady then let me know

Thats it for now. Cheers for reading and good luck :)
Paul

Still Here as are the Gatsby awards

2009-05-06T18:24:00.006+01:00

Was away for Easter and then back in time for the Monday and ended up in North Shields of all places in one hell of a pub crawl. Pretty much repeat the performance for most of Newcastle United games and there has been very little time for poker.

Also i had the opportunity to change hours at work and start earlier so whilst its nice to get home earlier, getting up at 7am meant less sleep if i played. This wasnt a prob on Crypto as you could go deep one night and then just chill on the thunders. New tournaments lasting 6 hours plus were a no no as was playing on poker stars. So it was down to the weekend only.

But then it was football and pub and come back either too knackered or too pissed so i refrained.
Well with footy season turning into a damp squib and Newcastle about to go down its time to lay off the ale and get back to the felt. Have tried Pokerstars and hate the structure. Hit the jackpot if you win but that 250k gtd tilted me. 29,000+ runners , finish in top 1% and make enough to get a couple of pints !!! (Still off cigarettes or would have used that as example)

Fulltilt i cant get away with and anywhere else seems unnatural so here we are back at my spiritual home of William Hill. Ok it aint Crypto but then again nothing is . At the end of the day the cards are dealt you press the buttons and make your choices so time to hammer it again :)

Shortish post so will dive straight into the rather delayed Gatsby Awards !!!

Live Poker Performance Of The Month
UEA Poker - Adam and the team qualified from a weekly points comp and earnt their place in a live London Students final. No nerves as the UEA boys took down the national title and £2,500 for their troubles. Apparantly they then proceeded to drag the giant gimmick cheque in as many London nightspots as possible !!!

Online Poker Performance Of The Month
Terrence "Unassigned" Chan - To win a Pokerstars SCOOP event is some going. To win 2 is amazing. To win 2 versions of the same event on the same night is almost impossible. Terrence won the $530 "medium" buy in as well as the $5,200 "high" buy in. At the end he walked away with 2 event 20 bracelets, over $185k in winnings and a slice of history.

Blog / Website Of The Month
Tales of a degenerate would-be - No words needed. Just read it !

Babe Of The Month
Nigella Lawson - Whether serving up the icecream or falling into a black cab after a night out she likes to have too much of whats bad for you and even in her late 40s, you would !!!

Hero Of The Month
Susan Boyle - Not heard of before the start of Britains Got Talent but one audition and all of a sudden the press and all the major news stations in the UK and USA are covering the story. Demi Moore is creaming herself on twitter about this 47 year old unemployed Spinster with the voice that the world is talking about. Apparantly ugly people shouldnt have a nice voice. Guess no one told Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud that then huh ;) Ps am kidding, she is hotter than Sarah at the mo

Knob Of The Month
Michael Owen - At least Dick Turpin wore a fucking mask !!! Any chance of sweating a little for your next 100k. What a waste of space

Couple of cheap rebuys, some diet pop and Chelsea vs Barca. Plus The Apprentice too
Laters all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

20th Anniversary Of Hillsborough

2009-04-15T04:24:00.004+01:00

96 Fans went to a match and never returned home.

R.I.P

Not Much Poker

2009-04-15T02:36:00.003+01:00

Out the majority of the weekend. 1-1 at the Brittannia Stadium means Newcastle are still bottom 3 and we are running out of games. Relegation is now looking Alan Shearer and his over priced lazy gits.

Takes a former YTS lad from Gateshead to equalise when Owen looked disjointed. Martins seems to have given up. Viduka just lays on the beach in Australia and Smith well he is hardly the player he was at Leeds all those years ago. Im fitter ffs. I would bloody try harder too.

On the poker front ive barely played. Back on day shift for the summer so Ipoker and Stars 6-8 hour mtts no good to me during the week and then im out at the weekends. I only played the Stars qualifiers below because ive had the day off today

a) to recover from Easter weekend
b) because it was an all day pub session for my mates birthday.

Was a change rather than the town or local. 15 of us hit the bars of North Shields. Bit different but a good day none the less. I also survived another major piss up without going back on the cigarettes so i do think after all these years i have cracked it finally/

So anyways back to work stuff a couple of people in our department are retiring shortly so going to be increasing the hours for the next 7-8 weeks so i need to find some turbo mtts or god forbid start playing sng's or cash. Ok maybe not. Maybe play live. Who knows.
I guess i just miss Crypto. Plenty of long mtts there but if you wanted to just go out and come in and do the thunders you could. Just got to get used to it i guess.

Also means i will have to let someone else win the 2009 World Series. Nah on second thoughts i would take the cash alternative as i would miss both my annual birthday pubcrawl and the Sugababes gig at the Riverside. Maybe next time as its something i would like to experience.

Right kip time. Good luck all and thanks as ever for reading.
Paul

ps screenshots below (i find it buggers up if i put text with multi pics)

1st one the turbo qualifier. 1st of 333 to qualify for the steps system
2nd one is steps 1 ($7.50 buy in)
3rd one is steps 2 ($27 buy in)

after that was the level 3 ($72 buy in) busted QQ vs AK and out early i didnt even get the consolation retry. Like the format but not too sure of the all or nothing. Should be a 3 tier thing like on Millionaire where you can wuss out at a certain stage and take the cash. Maybe thats just be being a short stakes miser ;)

pps how magical was that Chelsea vs Liverpool game tonight. Shameless was good too :)

Halfway to Monte Carlo for 3 FPPs

2009-04-15T02:27:00.003+01:00