Manchester, Coventry, Her Majesty’s pleasure and New Direction…..

My God it seems so long ago that l went to Manchester for the GUKPT but l never forget much when it comes to trips away were l’ve had a good bit of craic. Firstly l have to thank the old Triad Crew of Bo, Hai and Long who took care of transport and Sushi whilst l was there, Bo was the only one playing the Main Event and l had bought a chunk of his action not knowing much about his style of play. I did know that as a Vietnamese Mank it was going to be a rough ride whatever and sure enough he sent me a text before the end of level two saying “ OUT, SICK”. Now, if l go out in Level 1 or 2 in a 15k, 1 hour structured LIVE tournament its going to have to be set over set, King high flush to an Ace flush or Kings to the old bullets. If l go out with 3 6 suited after calling a re-raise l want someone to come and shank me in the Casino toilets while l’m vomiting into the shit pan. By the way when he had sent me the text l had replied with “ul mate, it must have been bad”, really it should have read “ you useless Vietnamese Kunt”..

I made the dinner break without too many tough spots and Bo made up for his epic rick by paying for a great Sushi and l have to admit these lads are great craic as well as very streetwise. After the break l was moved table and had the pleasure of sitting opposite Paul Gardiner, one of the Northern Crew who you see regularly on the UK Circuit, a great bunch of lads. The reason l mention Paul though is because of the one thing that stood out for me in Manchester apart from my exit. Paul was in the small blind facing a raise from a guy who had literally just sat down at the table, Paul gave him the old Geordie stare and flatted and the BB made up the raise. I had been looking at Paul the whole time and was sure he had a monster, so l was not surprised when he called the continuation bet with an Ace on the flop (Ah, 2c, 7d), the turn brought a Jack and Paul checked called once again. When the river brought the 8h Paul checked once again and the guy bet again, Paul insta called and turned over Qd 4c looking at the bloke not realising that he had read the 4c as the Ac, obviously your man flips AK for the pot and the table erupts, it was one of the best moments l have had in poker, sometimes you don’t have to win money to have a priceless moment like that. Paul Gardiner, you are a corker my son and its always a pleasure to play with such a gentleman.      

The Sushi in Manchester is great!

With having a bad run of cards and always grinding a bowl of Uncle Bens, l was amazed that l managed to navigate my way through the rest of Day One and creep into Day Two, my first ever consecutive Day Two in GUKPT’s. I was well chuffed even though l wasn’t amongst the big stacks. Actually l was thinking about this the other day whilst l was reading the Racing Post Poker page on the bog and thought to myself that l have never ever had a massive stack in anything l have played in 4 years, what the fuck is it like to have a stack at the end of a Day 1?

Day 2 was quite easy going, after l was gifted some chips by Andy Mosely early on, after this early set back he showed why he can play a bit by keeping his composure and rebuilding. I was happy to sit tight after this early double up as l had two of the busiest feckers on the circuit atm, Chris Brammer on my left and John Eames on my right, Chris had a monster stack as usual. Young Andy was still in action and this meant that spots were few and far between with the shit l was getting dealt. As we made it to the dinner break however, l was starting to get more confident of reaching the final table and l went to have grub in good form.

Kully was treating me to dinner as l had bought breakfast in town before we walked to the Casino. He had been on at me since we arrived in Manchester Piccadilly about this great kebab joint near the casino so l thought as it was the last day there l should oblige as l had forced him to eat Sushi for the last couple of days. Kirit Patel joined us as we jumped into a taxi for the 5 minute drive up the hill, when l seen the place l nearly told Kully to go fuck himself as it looked like one of them Takeaways which had been on Grime busters having just shut down after a Health Inspector had found two rats humping in the Deep Fat Fryer. l went in and it was clean enough so l decided to eat what was ordered by Kully, l was so wrong, the food was absolutely fantastic and l will be back there without a doubt when l go back to Manchester. 

Well worth checking out!

We got back to the Casino just in time to take our seats and what l have to say about the next two hours is going to be short and sweet. With 16 left and a chance to get a good stack l re-raise Kirit’s 3 bet with and All In holding QQ and he calls with AK as l would probably do……….the Ace comes on the river and lm dusted. He is a nice fella Kirit, plays his poker in the Gutshot and l believe he told me over dinner that the Gutshot owner, Barry Martin had done him a deal for this GUKPT. He runs an interesting Web business which looks well worth a look!

Kirit Patel.

Its funny how things work out and after Kirit had knocked me out, Kully who l had spent most of the weekend with, went on to win the Main Event. Two great lads and well done to both of them. I have to give a mention to a young lad who is just starting out on his Live Poker career, Xander Arnold! I first met him on the final table of GUKPT Main Event Satellite in Bolton earlier this year were he performed miracles to win a seat, l then encountered him on a table in Manchester were me and Mike Ellis had a great bit of craic with him in the Main Event. He was extremely unlucky in Manchester at the end of Day 1 and he was visibly heartbroken, l know he will recover and hope he will get some breaks as he definitely has game, good luck kid!

Coventry GUKPT.
I love going to Coventry as l have mentioned many times before  and this was no different. My good mate was back from work in Nigeria for a few months so l had him playing for us and James Atkin who always gives you a real run for your money. None of us cashed in the small field and Gino was the last man standing going out in 22nd. Once again l enjoyed my visit there with the place as immaculate as always. A wee thing l must mention which really stuck in my memory was the fact that Tikay from Blondepoker was there keeping tabs on a SkyPoker Qualifier who l was sat beside for a short time, seemed a nice lad. Everybody knows l’m not keen on Blonde and never will be, but this man who l have slated in the past came up to me and asked how my Black Labrador was and even remembered his name. He also done it with real sincerity in his voice and body language which meant an awful lot to me, l won’t forget that in a hurry. Thank you Tikay!

Wallace, 15 in October, looking great atm!

Her Majesty’s Pleasure. (A wee bit of porridge)
I can finally write this section now as it’s all over. I went to court in November last year for totting up 13pts as l’m sure many of you reading this blog are aware off. I had just had my licence back from a previous Disqualification were l had been caught driving whilst disqualified so l went to court and lost my licence for 12 months this time and at the same time l gave the Magistrates a wee bit of shit. I left the court at 11.40am and was caught driving a Hire car at 11.55am by two policewomen in a Traffic Car, they stopped me because l was on a mobile phone and l wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Thinking quick l didn’t tell them that l had just lost my licence as l would have been arrested straight away, l just gambled that it wouldn’t be on the system yet and it worked…….of course they gave me a producer and then consequently found out everything!

I ended up in court last month with TWENTY charges against me and was sure l was going down for 5 months, probably ending up with eight weeks. I done alot of research into good solicitors for this type of thing and l ended up with a great Solicitor from London. It cost a packet but he was top bollocks and got me off with £200 in fines and an extra 4 month ban, in the Court on the day he was just unreal, cutting the prosecution in bits. If you get into shit with Motoring Offences get yourself a good Solicitor, worth every penny.

A New Direction For Me.
I will do a bit more on my next blog entry which won’t be too long as l have lots more time on my hands these days. I have managed to QUIT the disease that is Online Poker, yes, l’m not joking. I have not touched it in 7 weeks now and although it was very hard to get through the cold turkey of Sunday’s especially, l am done for good now. It is a fucking disease, an addiction and no better than playing Roulette Machines in a bookies or Fruit Machines in an arcade. It has you glued to the PC for unhealthy amounts of time, it makes you moody, you eat unhealthy shit regularly, you hardly exercise, don’t spend time with people who matter to you and generally don’t have a LIFE. I am well rid of it!

A recent visit to lovely Perth.

I have started a new venture in Sports Trading also which l can’t say a great deal about, it means l have a lot less time to play poker on a regular basis, not that there are many opportunities for the games l want to play. I am really enjoying what l am doing now and l hope it will continue for a long time, l love Horse racing and Dog Racing so this is my dream job!
I think my next Live Poker Event will be the London EPT and then the Belgium Poker Open which l absolutely loved last year.
More Soon………good luck all!

UKIPT Coventry, the importance of Village Poker and No thanks Rob!

 

UKIPT Coventry

I had really been looking forward to this tourney as l like the lovely New Coventry G. Casino, its 35mins away and lots of friends from the Midlands poker scene would be there. Since l got banned from DTD and then with the loss of my license for a year before Christmas, l haven’t been playing in Birmingham at all, which l had made my new poker home. For those reading this blog that aren’t aware, Birmingham has the strongest Cash games outside of London and these are regular with a good base of players.

I decided to play the Thursday and had arranged a lift with Jimbo Atkin, we were going to pick up Trigg from Leicester Train Station after his last minute decision to go for his usual social. It was an interesting drive to the Ricoh with James, to say the least, lets just say l hope that's a real English license he has and not a Polish one he bought from Lincoln Market. We did arrive safely and for that l must thank the Baby Jesus!

Trigg, not looking his best and directly to my left on Day 1. 

My Day One was an up and down fuck of a day, from the start when l was seated directly to the right of Trigg till 40 mins from the end of play when l went down to 9k after my QQ was outdrawn by 10 10. Even after all this l had felt comfortable and there was always plenty of spots, luckily with 30 mins left to play l was moved to a real nice table were l was able to get back in the game finishing the day with just below average chips. Unfortunately James and Trigg had not made it after getting a few difficult spots and bad beats, however l had a couple of percentages with a few fat stacks which is always nice.

 

I returned on the Saturday full of confidence and my starting table was good with only Dan Carter to trouble me,  l got the better off him on this occasion but he’s still someone l don’t really want on my table especially when he has chips. I moved to a new table in the main poker room with a lovely stack, about 86k with the average being 62k, l didn’t know any of the players at the table which l was happy with. After about 25 mins Paul Bracken was moved to my left but was very low and then my exit hand happened shortly after. The blinds were 800-1600 and l find QQ UTG+1, l make it 4600 and l get 2 flatters and it gets round to the BB who is that Gilles Augustus (the eventual winner), he makes it 14,800 to go and l shove my remaining 69k, fold, fold and then he snaps my neck off with KK, goodnight McCool, get your fat ass out off Coventry. I don’t really think l done a whole lot wrong here as he had been a busy fucker the whole time l was at the table, but best of luck to the lad he used the 180k pot well and scooped the 48k prize money, bastard;-)

The Winner

The G Casino at Coventry was great as usual and the cash games were rampant from what l seen, l didn’t really get a chance to play in them. The tournament was run extremely well with most of the regular GUKPT team there, only bad thing l have to say was the fact that the dealers on Day One were an absolute load of shit and there is no way they should have been allowed to deal a monkey comp. One old geezer who dealt at almost every table, was about 75, had glasses like the bottoms of milk bottles and looked like Grosvenor had dug him up from the local graveyard the night before, fuck me l did feel sorry for the old kunt. I was told they were from an Agency, well if the owner of that Agency is reading this blog l would get yourself down to your local airfield mate, put a few hours in learning to fly a small commercial plane, round them dealers of yours up and fly the whole Agency towards Iceland my son! The only little complaint l have towards the casino was the toilets, Jesus Christ they were bad, it just so happened l had a dose of the shits while l was playing on the Thursday (probably that fucker Atkins driving) and the Saturday wasn’t much better. The toilets were either blocked, there was no toilet roll or they hadn’t been cleaned for the duration of the day, sort it out Coventry….

 

Village Poker

Three months ago l was at the local village shop near to were l live and l seen a poster which was advertising a poker evening, l phoned the number and decided l would go along as it would make for an interesting blog entry. Long Clawson is a small village outside Melton Mowbray were one of the dairies that makes Stilton Cheese is located. The population is about 900 l reckon and they have one pub, one very small shop, a little cafe, a very good Medical Centre and a great Village Hall. Now, the Village Hall is reasonably new and is built on land that was donated by a local farmer, the money to build it was loaned to the villagers by the Dairy. They hold regular events and money that is raised is paid back to the Dairy to pay off the loan, one of the regular events just happens to be a poker night which is organised by a guy called Johnny and his wife.

The famous Stilton Cheese

After a few phone calls with Johnny and his missus l turned up with a few things that they could raffle off, a card protector, Pokerstars Bag, Hat and stuff like that. I paid my tenner on the door, which they had offered to waive, this is made up of £3 for the poker and £7 for a free drink and a dinner in the break, believe me a few of the casino bosses should come and try this as it would show them up, tight wads that they are. One thing that really lit my eyes up was that Johnny had put posters all over the entrance and the main hall that had “Mick McCool – Professional Poker Player here tonight” printed on them, marvellous, no pressure!

After getting my free pint l quickly found enthusiastic people, both young and old coming up and asking me questions about poker in general. I knew a few of the people there so it wasn’t all that bad and l quickly relaxed into the evenings game. The tournament area was well organised and although the chips were not numbered they were workable after a few minutes. The dealers were just locals who had slightly more experience and that worked fine with everyone having a real good time. Fifty players started and by the dinner break we were down to 20 approx, the standard of play was very novice as you would expect. The meal was really good and during it they held a raffle for different prizes that were donated, it all added to the enjoyment of the night.

Johnny (drinking), Bill (Linda’s Husband) and Ivor.

When the dinner break was finished and we got back to the tables l managed to get lucky in a few spots and made the final table with below average. Eventually l got heads up against one of the guys who l knew before the evening, Alan Grummitt and although he had a 12 to 1 chip lead on me he was very inexperienced. Old Ivor who finished 3rd was a character and he was responsible for learning Alan how to play a two days before, so a good result for the master and pupil. It was a very enjoyable experience and l found it really relaxing and lots of fun playing with people who were just there to have a night out whilst playing a game of poker. Believe it or not l learned a lot from the whole experience, l don’t take any game as serious now and have a much more respect for weaker players. My problem used to be that l never ever remembered being a bad player, a bit like Learner Drivers l suppose!

I talked to lots of people that night and also the second time l went which was a month after, a few days before l went to Cannes. The mixed bag of people that l met playing there was unbelievable, you had 18 – 80yr olds and occupations such as a Blood Tissue Bank Director, an Office Manager, a Building Contractor, a Shop Owner and many more. l managed to speak to a few people to see what attracted them too poker as an evening out, here is what a they said:

Linda Seden – 64yrs old

Linda is retired and has been playing for about a year with her husband Bill who she has been married to for 44yrs, she has never played online and has been to Dusk Till Dawn a few times playing the beginners tournament, she finished 19th once at DTD which she is very proud off but she feels intimidated by the men at the tables there. She has joined the Pub League and plays once a week at the local in Long Clawson, the social side of the game is very important to her. She believes that there is a bit of skill involved but that it is more luck than anything!

Charlotte Flook – 18yrs old

Charlotte is a student and has been playing for about 6 months both online and live. Again she loves the social side of the game but believes that there is more skill involved than luck. Charlottes mother also plays!

Karen Dawn – 30yrs old

Karen has been playing a few months, she works at the local pub and really enjoys the social side of the game. She intends to learn more about the game and continue to play as much as possible. She enjoys knocking men out!

Karen, with Richard railing her.

Richard Bagshaw – 32yrs old

Richard has only been playing for about a month and he enjoys the game immensely, he also wants to get better as he enjoys the competitive side off the game.

This was only a few people who were there and l spoke to many more all of who loved the game, whether it be the competitive side of it or the social side off it. The amount of women that played in both Village games that l played accounted for around 40% of the attendance which l thought was amazing.  None of them had travelled to any competitions but several of them had played at DTD as we live really close to it. The whole thing was really well organised by Johnny and his wife who both play, the Village Hall is a great Venue and the people were an absolute pleasure to sit down with. I really believe that this sort of poker along with pub poker is extremely important for Poker in this Country. Grass roots is the key to longevity and we should do everything possible to help and encourage it!

 

No Thanks Rob!

Well l would have thought with the General Election coming up all the best Spin Doctors would have been hard at work, trying to get the public on board for them vital votes. DTD’s version of Alistair Campbell has started his election campaign on Blondepoker, as usual l reckon he won’t have to say much to win their votes.

Rob has kindly mentioned me in his new blog and to be honest he talks a lot of truth but also there is a few inaccuracies. He mentions that l have tried to get back into DTD a few times recently and l have to admit now that this is definitely TRUE, except for the recently part. The dates that l tried were in and around early September 2009, it shouldn’t take the brains of an Archbishop to work out why l tried then, but just in case you don’t know the “English Poker Open” was taking place there a few weeks later. I had not tried before or after these dates!

 

Like myself Rob is a good blogger and many people will read his well written entries so he has no reason to lie! Rob says in reference to my blog “l don’t read it myself, but have been sent various links to Mick McCool's blog”, now come on Rob for fucks sake, that’s the biggest lie ever, l bet your on here more than me, come on man you can tell the truth, just send me an Anonymous PM with “yes” on it, l will know its you me oul cocker. I could say that about not reading his blog but it would be a bare faced lie as l can’t wait to get on Blonde and see what brain drain your feeding the sheep, its like getting up on Christmas morning to open my presents.

As for Rob’s kind invitation to start deleting my derogatory blog entries l will NEVER EVER be doing that, l have NO intention of ever walking through the doors of DTD whilst the current management are in charge. I also have NO intention of ringing up again for my ban to be lifted. I took a new direction in Poker recently which is to travel across the water when l go to decent sized events, DTD doesn’t really hold £1k+ events as they cater more for beginners and intermediate players. As for cash games, l don’t really want to sit in 50p - £1 games anymore, the bigger cash games are dead and buried in DTD, so once l get my licence back in a few months l will be off back to Birmingham twice a week. As l have said before, my business won’t be missed at DTD and as Rob said in his latest entry “I am sure the 500 people that have come through the doors of DTD today” tells its own story.

 

An Online Win

I had to put this in as l usually run like shit online.

UKIPT hits the best Casino in the Country, l get a Massive monkey off my back and he’s back at last!

 

Less UK and Ireland!

For those who don’t know me that well, earlier this year l had decided to play very little in the UK or Ireland in the next year for different reasons, obviously Ireland is a simple one for me as l’m sick of being shafted by the Airlines, Hotel and the Tournament Organisers. The UK was for a completely different set of reasons, firstly my 14 yr old Labrador Wallace is on his way out with cancer and l want to be there when he either dies at home or if it has to be, l will be the last thing he sees if the Vet has to put him to sleep. When either of these happen l will not play live poker again for 6/7 months, that is as definite as Tyrone finding out that Kevin Webster is the father off Molly’s sprog on Coronation Street (l do love the soaps, sad bastard).

Old Wallace out in the snow last month with a Bull Terrier.

The second reason is down to the Law and my inability to drive slow without a mobile stuck to my ear and stop at red lights, l had put over 12 points on my Licence and they banned me for 12 months with a re-test before getting it back, marvellous.

Lastly, l have learnt lots in the past few years about protecting your bankroll and were best to utilise it. The cash games have died in England in the last 7 months, at the Bolton GUKPT they were dead and when l went to the UKIPT Manchester it was mostly small stakes with one good Hold Em game that l couldn’t get a seat into, after waiting for a few hours. When you get knocked out over here it can take ages to get back home, time off from the tables is mainly spent in the Hotel or going out for some grub with the lads. If you are abroad there is so much more to do and see, you can be home just as quick with the many Flight Paths that are now available and many bargains fares to be found online. Basically, playing in England with the same circuit players every week was killing me and l had to broaden my horizons before it broke my spirit and enthusiasm, now that l have done it a few times, l am never going back to the old ways.

 

GUKPT London

Well folks, last week l decided to travel down to the Vic. for their £1500 GUKPT Main Event, London for me is an hour and a half on the train. The beauty is the fact that it is a High Speed non stop service from Leicester to St Pancras and its only £39 return, 10 mins taxi ride and your in the Vic Reception. Talking about the Vic. Reception, what an absolute Cluster Fuck it is during these Festivals, one minute you are able to get upstairs in a jacket and then you come back from having a dinner break 4 hrs later and your told to put it in the Cloak room, 7 times l was stopped during the Festival and off course l complied without arguing ;-)

I had said to some Poker friends in January that it would take a massive effort to win the London, Walsall or Luton Leg of the GUKPT this year. There are a number of contributing factors for this in my opinion, the recession has dried up the recreational players and made the weaker players drop their levels dramatically in the past year. These three places have always had a strong base of experienced players who are all very competent and make very few mistakes and finally they get massive entries compared to other stops on the popular tour. So in other words l don’t know why the fuck l bothered going in the first place!

It all started on the Tuesday when talking to Adam Vinson on Facebook and he had told me he that he had finished second in one of the Side Events for a nice chunk, then he tells me some of the numbers for the Sides and my feet are getting really itchy now. I wasn’t really interested in the Sides but they usually a good indicator for the Main Event, just to be sure l phoned Mr GUKPT, Jonathon Rabb and he cemented my attendance.

I had rung Julian to see when he was going down and he told me he was driving on the Thursday morning at 9.30, so l decided to hitch a lift with him. He had just won an Online MTT for $14k on Stars the night before so l knew he was good for the Latte’s and maybe even a Bacon Roll if l played my cards right. We got there for 12ish, l registered for the Main and sat in a 2 – 5 HE game which was really big. I managed to double up fairly quickly with KK in the BB versus QQ which nearly covered my buy in and l sat there until 2.30pm when l took my seat.

My starting table was as expected, HARD, l had seasoned journeyman Adam Wilkinson, Pro Rumit Somaiya, Semi Pro Anthony Hardy, Pro James Sudworth, a Vic. Regular, a Scandie Pro and a real fit American bird, Jessica who could play a bit. Oops sorry, l forgot one, FLUSHY, old Dempsey and Makepiece had made an appearance on the Live Scene, God Bless him!

 Jessica Dawley

The craic was great and l have to admit l really did enjoy this starting table, l found out a few interesting things on there about some of the lads. Rumit, who calls himself The Cube online and uses one as a card marker cannot even do a fuckin Rubik's Cube so if your reading this Rumit, the games up son. God Bless old Rumit though, he was sat beside Jessica for the first few levels and he was using all the tools from his oul Love Locker to try and get her number. Meanwhile you have Sudworth and Dempsey knocking back liquor as though they were in fucking Tombstone Saloon in 1872, playing Deuces are wild with Wild Bill Hickok. Then after four hours in and Rumits hard groundwork with Jessica, the Tombstone Twins waddle over to were she is now sat (next table) and get her number, it was great to watch and it made the day go much faster for me.

Just to let you know the strength of this event, l was moved for 35mins to one table before it was broke and l had Ram Vaswani to my left and Priyan de Mel to my right, thanks for that. I was moved back to the same table and as players were knocked out we got the very competent young James Williams, Micky Wernick, another solid Scandie, Andy Ward, Javed Abrahams and Priyan de Mel. Ok now, l’m being totally serious, are you taking the fuckin pisser here, l know l can play but so can all these guys and your game has to be mistake free and in top form, l witnessed some Top Class poker from that table and Priyan showed me why he is one of England’s Top Talents.

I had a steady climb all day to my Day 1 finishing stack of 74k, l got lucky once against some young Irish kid who played an absolute cracker and l mean that, this bloke who l don’t know really impressed me and l think we will be seeing more of him. I had been left short stacked after some old guy had called my A K raise with Q 3 and the flop came Q A 3, so l get AK in the BB and this Irish kid raises two from the cut off and l shove, he has KK and l spike an Ace on 4th street, unlucky mate. He then builds his stack up and finds KK against QQ were the guy hits a Queen, what a day at the office, but then we have all had them many times. Once l had bagged up with 38 left at around 1am l sat down in the Dealers game until 5am when l headed to the train station to go back home.

After a lovely relaxing day at home l caught the train down to London the next day for the 2pm start. I had a fairly easy day with no real tough decisions and no key hands, l did tussle with the Vietnamese guy who eventually took me out in the Final and he wanted me bad but l was sure he would have to get lucky to win back any chips he had donked off to me. I made the final with about 220k in chips which was below average but l felt there was plenty of play left and l would get opportunities against the Massive stacked Vietnamese geezer with my experience. Other Final finalists included Rumit who was massive Chip daddy, Neil Channing, Lawrence Houghton, Darren Annis, Vicky Coren, a good Canadian, a good American and the two Vietnamese lads.

The Final was going easy for me and l was feeling very comfortable when l somehow got all my chips in good with AJ against the J9 of the Vietnamese guy, the rest is history. I was sick for about an hour but l had finally got the GUKPT Final Table monkey off my back. I enjoyed the whole event, we had the Tombstone Twins doing their bit to sell The English Poker Experience to Jessica, the Staff in Reception trying to get the Jacket off my back every time l came in, Rumit “l couldn’t do a Rubik's Cube if l was locked up for as long as that mad kunt Bronson” Somaiya trying to unlock the lovely Jessica’s Cube.

Get a grip Rumit, the games up Son!

The staff from AWOP were there as usual doing a great job, my mate was even able to watch the Live Feed from Nigeria, unreal. The GUKPT Staff under Ian were great, slick and very well oiled nowadays as you would expect and finally as always you had the spine off the operation, Mr Rabb making the players feel comfortable and ensuring everything came together smoothly. Thanks to the other staff in the Vic also as l do always get looked after even if l do refuse to take my jacket off!

 

UKIPT arrives in Coventry this week.

What can l say about this new tour that hasn’t been said already, its just going to be huge and you need to play them. I will probably play the most of these as they are full of value, l won’t be playing the nearest one to me however as it is off course in DTD.

I can’t speak highly enough about Coventry as it is the real top bollocks when it comes to Casino’s in England. Its Las Vegas open style design is always immaculately presented and it has a hard working Management and staff who l know from Walsall Grosvenor. Since being taken over by Grosvenor they have made many changes which have made it an excellent Casino and Flagship for the Grosvenor Casino Group.

UKIPT Schedule

I noticed there is about 15 less Online Qualifiers for this on Stars, compared to Manchester, so l am certain it will be rammed, good luck if you decide to play it. If you have any queries just contact this guy below and he will sort you out or he will know someone who can.

He’s Back……….

You either love it or hate it, l’m firmly in the first camp. Ashes to Ashes returned to our screens this week past and it was great to see me oul mucker Gene Hunt back in the Quattro, he is a legend!

Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister)

Some of the one liners had me doubled over watching this first episode:

“ If you hitch that up anymore l will be able see what you had for breakfast” Gene Hunt to Alex Drake about her skirt!

“Theres only one thing for it, lets fire up the Quattro”Alex Drake to Gene.

“If you dress like a maths teacher again, l will paint your balls like Hazelnuts and inform the local squirrels that Winter has arrived” Gene to Ray.

“Hey Flid, get over here” Gene to Ray.

I suppose you have to see it to know what l’m going on about, its well worth watching if you get a chance.

The Quattro

 

Rob Yongs New Diary

A few people have mentioned this to me and l will have a real look when l get a chance, should be interesting as he does write a good Diary if his first Vegas one is anything to go by. Of course it wouldn’t matter if it was a load of tripe as certain Blondes will just lap it up or be spoon fed it by the shepards. I bet Blonde are very happy though, as its been dark days there with everything looking and sounding very repetitive. A new diary by Rob might be the tonic that Blondepoker needs, firstly he gets the word from Jesus to build it and they will come (DTD) and now Jesus has one last job for him, Rob got the word from above “ Lead my loyal Blonde Lambs out from under the rainy clouds Rob and into new pastures were they can shine alongside other Great Poker Forums once again after this you will be known as MOSES YONG.” God Bless Him!

Steady on Moses!

Well Done Colin and Caroline!

Finally a quick Well Done to Colin McTaggart on his Walsall GUKPT win, l was always told when first starting over here that if you can win in Walsall, you can win anywhere and l believe this. Walsall and the Birmingham area have some of the best players in the Country and many great players were in attendance. Colin and his missus, Caroline travel around playing all over and are both very good players, Caroline actually picked up $10k in the Women's TV Tournament a few weeks back. They are two lovely people and a great couple to know, Well Done!

 

I hope you gossip mongering stalking bastards enjoy this, but remember ffs this takes 5/6 hrs to do properly, if you don’t leave comments l will just stop doing them for the public. Even if you post a kunty comment l couldn’t give a fuck! Good Luck.

Blank Franc, a look back at the IPC and other shit l cant be bothered putting on the Title.

 

Well l have to say that l’m pretty fucked off writing this first part of the entry as l had typed an interesting piece into my new fangled Blog Tool on my laptop, which l managed to smash when l tripped outside the house. Lets get on with it!

BLANK FRANC

Following on from my last post regarding the numbers that had turned up in Cannes, my fears for low numbers was quickly proved right when l walked into take my seat and there was only 78 listed on the board. It did get slightly better and l think we ended up with just over a 100, me being the only Irish representative, no English players were present either..

I have to admit now that l really enjoyed this event, the French are mostly ignorant bastards and to be fair it was mostly the same here, but one important thing stood out for me and that is that they seem to have grasped the etiquette side of things now.Tournaments are now being run with strict rules in place and French Dealers are telling players when they are out of line. It was good to see these things being enforced and it made me feel more comfortable as they told me what was happening at all times. That along with the fact that they seemed mostly friendly made it an enjoyable, well run tournament for me!

On the 9th of the Grand Duc!

I never cashed in the event and ended up finishing 27/28th, it was good when l busted as they all cheered at my table, glad to see me out of there. This is usual for the French l believe, but l don’t think that they do it with any real malice after l chatted to a few of them the following day. I am glad to say, l have changed my attitude towards the French after this trip, they are just mostly recreational players who really enjoy a game of poker and because of their culture they have a completely different approach to the game than us on this side of the water. It was a lovely place, expensive as fuck if you don’t know what your doing and were to go for the right price.

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One thing that surprised me was the poker rate for the hotel which we only found out when checking out, E61 a night was a real bargain and it was a great hotel with beautiful views of the Alps and Sea. We took a train from Cannes to Marseille which was very cheap and ran along the coast to the scenic town. There we were able to get an easy link to the airport were we flew back to Stanstead. Whilst waiting for the plane l met a French Bloke reading a poker magazine, he told me that he worked for PKR and lived in London. Seemed a good egg and he also told me some more about the French Poker scene, which he said is definitely on the up.

Outside Marseille Train Station. 

I intend to learn some French this year so that l can interact with them at the table a wee bit better, they seem generally ok. By the way, before l finish on France, l got knocked out of the Million on Sunday by someone from Paris after he called my Re Re Raise with AJ off, l had QQ. After my French trip l was a little bit more restrained and simply said in the chat box, “Fuck off u FROG KUNT”………………………….

IRISH POKER CHAMPIONSHIPS

This is going to be very brief as l haven’t much good to say about Irish Poker atm. Ireland has got so expensive over the last few years that it is now not viable to travel there for a game. Like everyone else l love it there and lots of value still plays on the tables, but as soon as you pick up the mouse to book your flight you are getting ripped off. Flights are ridiculous, the taxis charge an arm and a leg, hotel staff should be wearing balaclavas and carry sawn off shotguns, tournament organisers should just wear a strap on 5 speed Black Mamba and do the players up the ass as they walk into the card room and if your thinking of playing cash games, good luck with that. There is good Guinness and great craic though!

The IPC Main was a grind for me but a comfortable one, l enjoyed the tournament immensely and you really do meet some great people at the tables in Ireland. I had sat beside Nicky Power when we were both very low in chips with 50 left and it wasn’t an easy table, but you could see why this guy is one of the best in Ireland, he is very comfortable at the table and picks his spots beautifully. I was moved to a new table and it was here that lots more opportunities presented themselves and l quickly climbed to 119k with 31 left (aver 92k). I was feeling really good and was sure l would have to get really unlucky to not make the Final, how true this was as the following hand took place. I was talking to this guy for about 2 hrs and all hands l had won at the table in his presence was with a legitimate hand. Folded around to me in the cut off I raised to 3900 (800-1600) with KK, this Vinny Cosgrove fella who is on the SB goes All In for 89k (aver. 94k). Off course l snap his neck off with the KK and he tables 67 diamonds, the FLOP comes 10s, Qh, 9d, then a 2c and the river brings an EIGHT. I will let you come to your own opinions over his push but he made the Final table so God Bless him, he was destined by a higher force than me. I got moved straight after this as the table was broke and l went out shortly after with 55 versus AK, a 5 coming on the Flop but he hit runner runner low cards to make a straight, marvellous!

James Atkin had played the Main Event for me and my mate Gino and was really unlucky to go out with a flopped straight versus a higher flopped straight. He came up from his hotel and asked me if he could play the E500 side event and l said “yes”, 20 mins later and James was back at the tables and sure enough the next day he had WON it for us. That is 2 out of 3 events that James has cashed in for us and he really is a very competent live poker player with lots of experience. Unfortunately he doesn’t get away much as he has a young family and concentrates on his Online game, something he succeeds at week in week out. I was disappointed for him slightly as he never received a Trophy for his 1st Live Ranking win, especially as it was a Pokerstars (Biggest Online site and all that )Sponsored event. Not many people ever win a Ranking Event and l think the least these tight arse fuckers could do is spend £75 on a simple momentum, it sometimes means as much as the money to people…. Well done James and here’s a trophy from me, l thought l would use this one as you or shitty Liverpool are not be likely to be lifting anything this big for a very long time;-)

 

FACEBOOK FRIENDS

Some people reading this entry will have been recently deleted from my Facebook Account. That is actually being very diplomatic of me, basically l have fucked a load of people off there as they really aren’t my idea of friends. Poker players who l see 4 – 5 times a year and who l sometimes wish all the best when they final or succeed in other things don’t give a rats arse what l’m up to, so l have deleted them. The other players like Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Gus Hansen and all them are all gone, l don’t need them spamming me with shit like voting for them and to introduce me to their new Website or stuff like that. The other people l’ve removed is serial spammers and people who only post poker shit about getting the lot, who gives a fuck. So if your gone off there, l’m sure you won’t be too disappointed, but l only want people l think are genuine, interact with me and who l like!

THE PADDYPOWER IRISH (RIPOFF) OPEN

Lots of people asking me if l’m going to the Irish Open this year and the answer is simply “NO”. This great tournament, which is steeped in lots of tradition and glory if your an Irish winner is the biggest joke of the year in terms of higher end tournaments. Its a shafting job from start to finish and good luck to whoever wins it as l reckon you have to finish 7th or 8th just to get yourself out off it. They would be better turning the running of this to Bruce Poker or JP as l’m sure we would see a better run and more reasonable situation than is in place at the minute. I learn’t last year that if you play things for the sake of playing them you will be finished in Poker very quickly, l like to go to somewhere that there is value in some form, either players or the set up!

300 Registration – are u sure?

GREENSIDE WONDER

We have lost some dogs to various things in the past several months but the hardest pill to swallow was the loss of “Greeny”  last month to Cancer. I really loved this kennel character, he was 9 yrs old and could not leave the kennels for a home as he was a nutter who would kill any animal that moved apart from another greyhound. He was a very successful dog whilst racing and never owed us a penny, this picture below shows him beating Solid Money in the Heats of the 2005 English Greyhound Derby were he pulled off a massive touch.

Keith and l buried him in his back garden and we both cried our eyes out as we shovelled each bit of dirt into the hole. He was a great dog and a real character who will be terribly missed at the kennels. Rest In Peace Son!

I suppose l might as well..

 

Now that l have this new software for making my entries alot easier to post l might as well make an effort. I arrived in Nice Airport yesterday at 3pm after a decent flight from Stansted, it was Easyjet and was reasonably cheap. The one thing that l hate though is the baggage prices with these fuckers, we only came with a 1 x Hold Bag, 2 x Hand Bags and 2 x Golf Bags and it cost us the guts of £100.

 

The Hire Cars at Nice where quite cheap, for a Fiat piece of shit with a Lawnmower engine it was only £824 for 5 days. As you can imagine, me being a very diplomatic person and all that l told the bloke were he could stick it. Ten minutes later and after a quick scan on the old iPhone l found that you could get a nice sized car from Marseille Airport for £138 for 5 days. We are flying back from Marseille and had hoped to leave the car from Nice there when on the way home. In the meantime though we jumped in a taxi with an unusually nice Frenchman who charged us 90 euro to our Hotel, he spoke good English and was a golfer so plenty of good info was got for our stay.

Our Hotel in Mandelieu.

Finally l managed to play in the cash game here last night, l put in a 5 hour session which saw me win about 126 euro, l was disappointed with this as l had been up about 400 but was very unlucky in two spots.. The game was very very soft, numbers here are not very good from what l have seen but l’m hoping that picks up for the Main Event. Well that is it for now, only a short post which lm hoping to do more off whilst playing so that l don’t have to keep going back and writing about stuff that is not fresh in my head. Off to the Golf Course now for 18 holes!

 

p.s You have to win here as it is EXPENSIVE, really expensive and l will write a wee bit more about that later!