BLAPO NO1 For London Pub Poker and London Corporate Poker Events whether you are looking for a pub poker night or a Corporate Poker Event in London check us out first..

Every Thursday 7.25pm London Pub Poker Online $5 Rebuy Game + $200 Added

1: Click on Banner below to download

2: Once downloaded and logged in Select London Pub Poker under Scheduled Tourneys

3: PASSWORD FOR THE THURSDAY ONLINE GAME IS rooney (ALL LOWER CASE)

The BLAPO LondonPubPoker.co.uk BLOG for those with nowt better to read......
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The Week Ahead

Tues 18th 10 F/0 - Loose Cannon
Weds 19th 10 D/C The Apple Tree
Thurs 20th $5 Rebuy - $200 Added ( For More Info Click Here)
Fri 21st No Poker
Sat 22nd November - Super Saturday
1 Day - 2 Events @ 2 Venues

Game1: Register from 1pm Starts @2pm Loose Cannon
Will Finish By 7pm.

Game 2: Register from 7pm Starts @ 8pm The Apple Tree - til late
This is also The Unofficial Apple Tree Xmas Party
Very Limited Seating for The Evening Game - Give Gavin or I a fiver to guarantee your seat.
Both Games are £15 + 3 Freezeouts each

Can you do the double........
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Results and Other Stuff

Monday 17th @ The Apple Tree
A busy night and a decent pot as well, I had also broken my golden rule and blinded two people in who were definitely coming blah blah but never quite made it - hence forward from now on no more blinding people in - if people are at the venue they will get a seat( if there is a seat) and if not tough. Two people were waiting for seats and the 2 that had phoned up and asked for a favour did not even show despite 3 phone calls - really put me in a bad mood and means that I will not do it again, which just spoils it for those that are genuinely stuck in traffic or something.

Also Table Captains, is there a difference between wanting to help and speed the game up and actually trying to control the table ???- of course there is but do we really need a table of 8 table Captains - my answer is no- we were all new once and our games are not huge buy ins, they are social poker members events and whilst I am a stickler for the rules (it saves so many arguments and prepares you for bigger games in Casinos) sometimes we probably all need to be a little bit more patient to newcomers.

Just imagine if everyone at a table tried to control it - there would be a massive bust up every 2 minutes, something we just do not have (or tolerate) at our nights - I have heard so many reports of fights and intimidation at other pub poker nights and we have never allowed that to happen at our nights.

We are not like that and Gav, Aaron, Dave C and I all pride ourselves on offering good trouble free, friendly events open to all - so please remember this and keep it friendly - if you have a problem call over either myself or the organiser for a ruling etc.

The old addage of too many cooks spoil the broth could be adapted to Too Many Table Captains could spoil the game, so please bear this in mind.

Our games are busy because we are honest, do not cheat and because as so many new people have said fun and friendly, I know most of the tricks and games angle shooters use to try and gain an unfair advantage and that sort of behaviour just leads to hassle - hence why we stamp on it. We will never be everyone's cup of tea but for a lot of people we are certainly their preferred place to play - and that is down to the 99% of the group that share our thoughts on what social poker should be.

Anyway the results are.......

Ivan Teo 15
Vincent Reid 10
Eddie Umeyour 8
Alex Gross 7
Steven Bennet 6
Aaron Gardner 5
Sam Bradford 4
Chris dale 3

Sunday 16th November
Heard the news on Tv about an 81 yr old woman who had been arrested for her alleged part in a burglary of a Liverpool football player - now this is either a case of the crunch hitting home or rising fuel prices, I am sure it was not that long ago I posted about two old grannies nicking someones bag, this is getting beyond a joke.

Old ladies should be at home in their recliners not going out on the rob - Be warned the threat is not from Hoodies but those harmless old dears that you see in the post office queues, they may look frail but they are probably secretly selling their temazepams and using the proceeds to launch and fund a Zimmer Crimewave in 2009 to pay their leccy bills. Remember where you read it first !

Was just about to upload the above when I did a quick google and according to Digital Spy - Police in Japan are struggling to cope with an increase in crime by the over 65's - See here Which led me to look further and apparently Germany and The UK are planning on building special prisons for the over 65's.

In Penzance, in an effort to cut shoplifting crime the police have put up signs on the outside of shops saying "Hoods Down to Shop in This Town" - wonder if next year the good burghers of Penzance will replace them with signs saying "Only One Pensioner at a time" or maybe even "Hoodies Beware - Pensioners are known to operate in this area" Getting old suddenly seems to have become a bit more exciting :)

Saturday 15th November My Hotels Game - Bloomsbury 2pm
Well this was certainly a full on day - arrived at My Hotels at 1pm to set up and left 13 hours later at 2am - our thanks go out to Stuart from My Hotels and all his staff including the lovely Saga.

The Event was won by Frank, with Dominic Second and Marius third, Jonathan was 4th and Amanda bubbled in 5th.

The penthouses were much appreciated by the players who took advantage of the balconies during the breaks to chill and relax on and we managed to get 33 players seated in the end. Play started at 3pm and finished by 9.30 with plenty of extra levels giving a great deal of play throughout the tourney.

After The Tourney 8 of us stayed behind and delayed our checkout somewhat playing a friendly side game until erm 2am when we were chucked out (fair do's as our checkout time was scheduled to be 9.30)

7 of us then went down to The Empire and Paul the manager, kindly allowed us to run a small stakes game - which was great fun but the faces on some of the players when they found out that it was £3 a half hour to play at The Empire was priceless - Bit of a shock for them perhaps.....as they had played for 12 hours in The Penhouses - working out at less than 20p per half hour at My Hotels.

Still I managed to leave The Empire by 5am and was home by 5.30 am. Bit of a long day but nonetheless great fun and thanks to everyone for their support

We are doing a Super Saturday Event next Saturday (Sat Nov 22) with an Afternoon Game @ Loose Cannon (2pm Start) and then The Unnofficial Xmas Party at The Apple Tree (8pm Start) For the evening game we have limited seating and suggest you Give Gav or I a £5 deposit.


Thursday 13th November Not Got £200 ???? & Results for Online Game

Playing Cash in a casino/cardroom
Aaron and I fancied playing some cash after the corporate event tonight and pondered our options, we could go to The Empire - pay £8 an hour and sit at the £1/2 game or we could go up The Vic and pay £3 a half hour at The Self Deal £1/1 Game - the charge was not really an issue but the amount we could buy in for was - we just wanted to sit down and play for a couple of hours but at The Empire you need a minimum of £200 and The Vic the same.

Yes we could have sat down short stacked but where is the fun in that - sitting patiently to play a hand only to go all in for your £70 and get riverred - we both found it quite bad that in London there was nowhere to play where you did not need £200 in your pocket.

The casinos do not want low stakes games as they do not make them enough profit but there is a need for a game where you can sit down with £50 and have a hundred big blinds ie 25/50p and play some poker - not everyone has a huge poker wad to play with - will be interestig to see if the stakes are lowered during the oncoming recession....

This is one of the reasons that I am such a fan of Loose Cannon - they appreciate that people stillwant to play even with a max buy in of £50 and I for one am happy to pay whatever to be able to play in a Low Stake Game - Roll on January when we get The Friday Night Game back at LC......

Good Luck Eleanor
Also best of Luck to Eleanor Gudger who is playing in The PKR festival this weekend and hope she wins it (so she can buy us all drinks next week) Eleanor is a great person to have at the table and she certainly can play when she gets the cards - Fingers crossed for her

The Online Game
I had logged into this but could not play as I was out organising another game for a group of trainee accontants that are a good bunch and dig deep into their pockets to have a night of poker laid on for them - they would love to pay £3 each for a game believe me - maybe one month we could swap and they pay £3 each and the regular players pay me what they pay me each - Sorry I must have been day dreaming for a moment :)

Now it appears that in my absence Mr Folditt managed to win the Online Thursday Game and enriched himself with $150 dollars - undoubtedly we will hear stories in the coming few days how he won on the river with bad calls LOL - He really needs to send me 6 numbers so I can put them on The lottery on Saturday.

1 Steve Odit 15
2 David Kingston 10
3 Steve ODaSilva 8
4 Ted Gold 7
5 Jimmy Carrigan 6
6 Stephen Draper 5
7 Lynsey Green Chip 4
8 Graeme Rooney 3


12th November Results for Wednesday Game at The Apple Tree
1st Julien Swanson 15
2nd Phu Li 10
3 George Bellety 8
4 Steven Taylor 7
5 Richard Arms 6
6 Paul Merry 5
7 Sean Foley 4
8 Steven Oditt 3


Tuesday 11th @ Loose Cannon
So we were up by 2 players this week with 55 - and the gentler blind increases at the start seemed to be appreciated. Tonight I also met with Rob Saunders from Pokertrips.co.uk him, his brother and nephew were down in London for a travel show.

Rob is the person that organises poker holidays such as Poker at The Sands in Lanzarotte, they also do trips to Vegas, Poker Tourneys @ a golf resort, poker cruise holidays and more...They even do stag and hen weekends worldwide as well as ordinary (non poker Holidays)

You can find out more by visiting their website which funnily enough is www.pokertrips.co.uk and no I am not paid anything for promoting them - they just seemed a nice couple of guys with a genuine interest in poker.

Back to the game with 54 runners we were at maximum capacity for a Tuesday as we play in the bar and not the main hall. We may get one or more extra tables in but would rather have a good game than just have a huge game just for the sake of being able to say we had zillions of players and I think 63 or 72 would be the max we would want to run at - healthy pot, reasonable blinds and a good atmosphere was the order of the night. Has as ever ran a perfect game, which brings me on to the results...

1 Sean O'farrell 15
2 Kenny Chiu 10
3 M Shay(something) 8
4 Luke Smith 7
5 Hamish Cross
6 Kevin taylor
7 Ilka
8 Nick Scott

And so the beat goes on... Wednesday @ The Apple Tree please get to the venue early (7pm) and sign in with Aaron if you are coming as we are always full on a Wednesday.


Monday 10th @ The Apple Tree - Blend 37 Night
Tonight Gav was ill so I had to step up to the plate and run the game - and it was very very busy - typical of how my luck is runnng, me thinking oh well we will only have a fe and it will be a nice relaxing game and then boom we have 37 runners and only space for 30 - I even used the blue tables which despite the manufacturers claim of being able to seat 10 only really comfortably seat 9 - so thanks to everyone for squeezing up and we managed to get every one seated with 7 alternates. Now the Monday game is getting popular you are also advised to try and get to the venue by 7pm like Wednesday.

I completely forgot to announce the two Saturday Games coming up - this Saturday 15th we are holding a game at My Hotels and they have kindly decided we can play in the 2 penthouse suites
which was quite fun last time we ran a game up there.

The Following Saturday we are going to do a Double Bill in conjunction with Loose Cannon, there will be a Game at LC that will start an hour earlier at 2pm which will be a £15 + 3 Freezeout which will be over by 7pm - then at 8pm we will be holding an Evening Game same format at The Apple Tree which will be our unofficial Xmas Party - We may well have an Xmas party at The Apple Tree in December but in case we don't.......

The Results for Mon 10th @ Apple tree

Ivan Teo 15
Steve Oditt 10 ( He catches more cards than is humanly possible - Twice beating QQ with A rag!)
Aaron Gardner 8
Keith Wickes 7
Marius (Shuddddddup) Voica 6
Camillo Ramirez 5
Phu Li (Was not his night) 4
Duncan Wood 3

Saturday 8th The Afternoon Game @ Loose Cannon

The Saturday Game at Loose Cannon starts at 2.30pm this Saturday and is a £15 +3 for 2.5k in chips with a slow slow structure and loads more levels than we can get in during the week

You also get one rebuy or add on for a tennner. 10% of the field plus one paid and last week we had just under £1k in the Pot should you cash :)

Numbers have been up each week with last week just under 50 can we make sixty this week ??????

Thurs 6th Online Game

Thanks go to Ray from Portsmouth for his support, the game needs 10 players to go ahead and he topped up the numbers :) have to say that my internet connection was exceedingly bad - dropping everytime that I was the big blind - in the end i had to go all in to call but first week always teething problems. Payouts were good as well. Bob George popped up his absent head... now there is a man who knows added value - he is always at the events with extra's and in this case it was the $200 added that brought him out of seclusion to join in and wasn't he a lucky bob winning. I went all in with that Monster 7-2 off and managed to bust Dave Kingston's QQ. Stephen Draper was a very lucky fish when I raised him 6k with a full house and he had called only for my connection to drop ... giving him the win Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Oh well always next week :) It Is every Thursday in November and it was a good laugh with lots of abuse for Mr Oditt from Graeme - may even update the league tomorrow :)

1st Bob George 15
2nd David Kingston 10
3rd Graeme Rooney 8
4th Stephen Draper 7
5th Me 6
6th Ray Belstone 5
7th Steve Oditt 4
8th Eleanor Gudger 3




New Thursday Online Game - Instructions

Thursday 7.15pm $5 Rebuy Online Game with $200 Added - It was meant to be just 100 added but they seem to ghave gone generous this time

How to play in this Game.

1 Register for an account click link below

http://banner.poker.blackpoolclub.co.uk/cgi-bin/redir.cgi?id=N&member=UKPPO&profile=bpc300p06

2 Register with The Site Top right of The Page

3 You can then download the software

4 Once registered Select All Scheduled

5 Scroll down The List until you see London Pub Poker register for The $5 rebuy and when prompted enter password rooney (all Lower Case)

The Game Need a Minimum of 10 Players to run.

So we need 10 players to make this happen and $200 Added Extra can not be bad - you are welcome to get your friends to join in and try and win some cash and Super League Points.

IT IS ESSENTAIL YOU EmAIL ME YOUR SCREEN NAMES SO I CAN AWARD POINTS TOWARDS THE SUPER LEAGUE - IF YOU DO NOT SEND ME YOUR SCREEN NAME THEN YOU WILL MISS OUT ON THE POINTS - HOW AM I TO KNOW BIGSTICK469 is You :) ?

Do Not forget that the registration and Software download can take 15 min (with a slow connection) and last reg is @7.25

Good Luck and whoever wins the free money - remember my new thing for envelopes with cash in them :)



Wednesday 5th @ Apple Tree - I appear to have a Fan :)

A very strange welcome awaited me at The Apple Tree, an anonymous letter in a brown enverlope with and I quote" praise for all I do and a £10 note towards the Steve BLapo Fund ??????.....................

Checking The Calendar I see tonight was Guy Fawkes night and not as I suspected April Fools Day, the letter was signed "A Steve Blapo Fan" ( I am honoured to have one) and the sender asked that the letter be read out at the start of the night together with a suggestion that every donate 5% of their winnings to my preservation fund and to keep Blapo The Number one Pub Poker Company - I have to say the letter is still bring a bemused smile to my face as I type this at 4.30 Am ...........???

I have to say that I am still somewhat confused by this letter but if someone really wants to send me £10 notes anonymously I certainly will not be complaining. The sentiments of the letter were appreciated and maybe it was a wind up or maybe it was genuine. Whichever it was a brown envelope that was a pleasure to receive and it is always nice to know one has a fan.

However I bought into The Tourney with it and came 2nd so I am happy to inform my mysterious benefactor that I tuned their donation into a lot more.

Luke Smith announced that he will not be playing again but he will be - I am using the £10 from my winnings to buy him into either Monday's or Tuesdays Game - The Choice is his. Luke has a very dry sense of humour and would be missed - we also help each other out - but please any brown envelopes that are going to be sent are to have my name on them only please !

Results

1st Keith Wicks

2nd Me again (Am Clearly on tilt with these Brown envelopes)

3rd John Grime
4th Dave Adams
5th James Hayes
6thJonas Mcready
7th Pete Watson
8 Amanda Williams


Tuesday 4th November 10 F/0 @ Loose Cannon

Excellent turnout with 54 runners but a shy winner and 8th place - who did not want to be named I assume as they legged it before Has could take their names.

1st Unknown (not a regular)
2nd Morton Ericson 10
3rd Steve Flack 8
4th Thibaud Rigotard
5th Jeremy Lock
6th Declan Flyn
7th Catman
8th Unknown (not a regular)


Mon 3rd November - Apple Tree Monday Game

1st John Grime
2nd Aaron gardner
3rd Me
4th Stephen Draper
5th Michelle
6th Debbie Collier
7th Stephen Parker Elwood
8th Bob MacGreggor


Weds 29th October - Apple Tree Weds Game

1st Marius Voica
2nd Claire hart
3rd Ian Martin
4th Steve Oditt
5th Julian Webber
6th Amanda Williams
7 Alex Bonnefoy
8 Ross Foley

Tuesday 28th October - Loose Cannon Tuesday Night Game

1st Phu Li
2nd Carlos rodriguez
3rd Paul Merry
4th Will Barrett
5th Paul Copley
6th Steve Oditt
7th Amanda Williams
8th Michelle Millington



Mon 27th October - New Temporary Home for Gav's Game @ The Apple Tree
With Clerkenwell House Closed for refurbishment, We were at The Apple Tree for a great night of pub poker, The chipstack was an improvement 4k with our same structure that we have used for 2 years, yes it favours those who build chips but Angela came back from 100 Chips left with blinds at 200/400 to just miss out on the final table. Gav supplied everyone with chocolate as well as providing the TCO wooden spoon prize for first out...Mr Steven (Should have folded it) Oditt. A full house for our first game at The apple tree on a Monday and we will be back there again on Weds and also for this week Friday for The Halloween Headhunter Tourney.

A superb run of cards and some electrifying play saw Electric Eddie zap his way to the win, Stephen Draper was second and Third was Keith Wickes, 4th Eleanor Gudger (they all split the pot) Bubbling away was Wiggly in 5th, ^th Was Bob The Hat, 7th Me and in 8th Place was wannabe Brit Alex Bonnefoy.

1 Ed Umeyor
2 Stephen Draper
3 Keith Wicks
4 Eleanor Gudger
5 Wiggly
6 Bob The Hat
7 Me
8 Alex Bonnefoy

The League - I am getting office re-installed on my Pc but apparently will be tomorrow now --so I will update the league tomorrow - Sorry


Sun 26th - Updating Leagues etc
With all the changes that happened last week am having a day off, was going to go to a game I heard about in Putney but am pokered out - Plus I have to update the leagues and the website.

Sat 25th Loose Cannon £15 +3
Loose Cannon are running a game every Saturday at 3pm as they are unable to do the Friday Game til January 09 . Not bad numbers for the first week and a much better structure with loads more levels. £15 gets you 2.5k in chips and a rebuy/ add on can be had for a tenner. I was at The Final Table but not playing - I dealt (badly as ever) as I was long out. Am sure this game will only zoom up in numbers once it is known. Very laid back and friendly just like all of our games which is why I am happy to recommend it.

Thurs 23rd NOT@ My Hotels

The reservations department of My Hotels had double booked the room and sadly this will be the last game until Jan as My Hotels have corporate bookings for xmas.

On behalf of Stuart from MyHotels and us I would like to apologise to all who may have wasted a journey - but I was only informed of the cancellation at 3pm on the day. I did email everyone on the mailing list of BLAPO and LPM and this is a good reason to be on our mailing list.

All in all it was a pretty stressful week with Clerkenwell House suddenly announcing they were closing for refurb immediately and and My Hotels double booking for the last 2 games leading to cancellations.
Just a reminder we are running the following points games from now to xmas.

Mon @ The Apple Tree
Tues @ Loose Cannon
Weds @ The Apple Tree

Plus other one off member only events and the online $5 rebuy on a Thursday throughout November - see above

Wed 22nd @ The Apple Tree

those that stayed on after the tourney were treated to the delights of three card Irish and Fish for cards poker - you had to be there to appreciate it LOL another late one

Moses Mattar
Roland Marsh
Matt Arnold
Eddie Umeyor
Amanda Williams
Jonas Mcready
Elliot Bellwood
Luke Smith

Tues 21st @ Loose Cannon - A busy and late late night LOL
Tourney finished on time @ 11 but I appear to have left at 5am LOl
David Sheldon 15
Luke Smith 10
Jim Orr 8
Robert downs 7
Dan Bryant 6
La La 5
Nigel Hughes 4
Me 3

Mon 20th @ Clerkenwell House - Catman Claws his way to the Win, Trio Catch a Mugger and we will Paws playing at Clerkenwell House for a while due to building works

One of our players was jacked whilst going to a cash machine during the game and had his mobile stolen, this is sadly to frequent an occourence in London, no matter where you are be it in Mayfair, Mill Hill, Mitcham or wherever you are. I have been going to games in the area since it all started a couple of years ago and never has there been one incident.

What is different though is that this time the muggers got the shock of their lives. The victim of this jacking came to the venue in a state of natural shock and probably expected no more than sympathy and a place to gather his thoughts but 3 heroes decided they were not going to let this happen to one of our players. Gav, Paul (off duty) and Dave C (ex copper) rushed out in hot pursuit (I got the easy job of staying to run the tourney) and jumped in Gavs car with the victim and chased round and caught one of the little bastards that had jumped our player who is now in custody.

Now whilst our player will undoubtedly still be in a state of shock and this is never nice when it happens to anyone and it is always a massive shock to the system and your pride he at least can console himself that 3 fellow BLAPO players immediately without anythought to themselves rushed to find the bastards. So congratulations go to Gav, Dave C, Paul and the player - I hope the mugging little c***s got the fright of their lives and will think twice about doing that again am sure if one of our players had not been a copper they may have ended up in Epping.

Now back to the Game - I think tonight was the last night at Clerkenwell House as they are refurbising the room and have xmas coming up and party bookings which we always have to make way for. I am a bit confused though as the old manager from the bar said this was the last night before xmas andThe New manager (his Boss) said she hoped to see us in 2 weeks ???? If they do not know, How can I know what they have decided :) I will let everyone know when I know but for now it was the last night before January.

We were graced with The Catman and Catgirl and welcomed players from Loose Cannons Friday Night Game, Dave C did pop in but was obviously heping with the detention of suspects elsewhere. Catman clawed his way to victory to take down a very strange night that may or may not have been the last at Clerkenwell House for some time.

Results
Cops & Ex Cops 1 Jackers 0

Poker

Catman 15
Carlos Rodrigues 10
Phu Le 8
Paul Merry 7
Jacobo Montoya 6
Sean Nicol 5
Amanda Williams 4
Like Smith 3

Big rounds of applause for all 4 people involved in catching the little C****s when we next see them please.
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The Super League and The Top 24 Game
When I first announced this I did state that my intention was to pay the winner 500 and the other 500 based on rough calculations be added money to a top 24 game and to be fair this is what is going to happen.

The League will end on Dec 10th and only one winner will collect £500 - The Remaining 500 Will be played for in a Top 24 Game which will be £10 buy in with £500 added to the prizepool.

Due to Silly xmas getting in the way and venues changing and not being available as they ave corporate bookings/xmas parties the best date to do this will be on Tuesday 6th Jan @Loose Cannon. I will open the game up to everyone but.......

The Top 3 from this 24 will be paid as follows Highest finisher £250, Second Highest £150 3rd Highest £100... So if 50 people entered only those top 24 would only be the ones that were eligible for the 500 added. and the top 3 of these 24 will get the money even if none reach the FT.

Now as this has been Gavin and I's donation out of the £3 we collect and use to run the games I think the prizes are not bad considering it has not actually cost anyone anymore. We have alway as I have said before been plus 3 - a game does not cost less to run just because the buy in is a fiver or so. I also think £1k in prizes is good value - especially as I know other leagues have just put up a £100 for the top 24 and f'all for the winner of their leagues.

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Sun 19th October - Trip To The International
Have to say it was not the best of experiences, I was running late and Dominic who deals there had said "You can join until 8.30" I got there at 7.59 and the tourney was full LOL well I guess it is karma for nagging everyone to get to my games early. So I sat and read Flush and Bluff and had a nice cuppa and a Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagel til the break.

What do I think of The International..... well maybe it would be best to not judge it on one bad experience and that maybe if I ever get my Lost passport sorted I will give it another go - not driving so having no photo ID shoking but true it would appear that I am never going to be going back anyway as the norm of a bill and a credit card is not acceptable and you can only go once as a guest.

The Venue is nice enough, downstairs industrial looking a few leather sofas and nice carpet, the value (if I had played) would of been the fact that it is dealer dealt for a fiver - they cover their costs by side issues. For me it was functional and ok - I guess I have been spoilled by Roy and his team at Loose Cannon, for others maybe the place you play poker is less important.

The announcement over the PA of not to spit your chewing gum on the carpet was quite funny and the bagel was indeed delicious and was tempted to have another even at £4.50 a pop.

Played pot limit (which I hate) being a Hold Em Donkey and gambled (so rightly lost LOL), Liked the fact that The International has a Narnia Like door that you go outside to smoke in the shelter, saw a few familliar faces and went. If you live in East London/City am sure it will be a place on your itinerary or if you drive.

For me peronally the atmosphere was nowhere near as relaxed as LC and Daryl's play was criticised by someone raising 750 into a 25/50 pot ??? Lots of "I was always Calling you with my stack" at the cash table and other banter which was quite amusing n a good way - Nice enough place but until I get my passport sorted I will have to stay playing at The Vic/Empire and of course Loose Cannon when I have a rare night off from my games.

Fri 17th @ Loose Cannon - Ahem.....
Chip Leader splits 4 ways after a very long night - Oh that was me :) About Bloody time !!!! Sadly Loose Cannon will be shut now on a Friday Night as they have corporate bookings thru to Xmas (Our TuesdayGame will continue as normal and run thru until December though)

I am looking into running a temporary alternative event on Friday's at another venue but it will be for a much smaller field with 40 players max (poss more if I can get extra space)

The Next Friday Game we will be at is @ The Halloween Headhunter Game on Friday 31st October @The Apple Tree Click Here

Thurs 16th October - My Hotels
Without further ado here are the results for Thursday (league will be updated after Mon Game)

Marius 15
Jullian Swanson 10
Chris Malone 8
Tom Wallsgrave 7
David Adams 6
Duncan Wood 5
Gabriel Carter 4
Gavinda Narinder Baldinder 3


Weds 15th October - Apple Tree - Belarus V England
Personally I enjoyed the night despite getting two very very sick beats from the same caller, I saw an old face (Paul Lazarus) from way back when Delia and I first started doing a game back in the day which was really good as it means that despite being spammed for 2 years he has came back to see us all.

To some it may seem no big deal to have someone come back after 2 years, but for me it made it all seem worthwhile, the fact that we are a bit like a TV Soap, where you can not watch it for a while and yet still come back a few years later - the faces maybe different but the same friendly welcome is offered regardless of whether you played last night or 2 years ago.

When I started the nights my ethos was always that you should be able to play as little or as often as you wanted (to be fair though I was thinking of more like a week or a month or so gap :) - but hey the nights are still running 2 years on and I look forward to seeing Paul again in 2010 and again in 2012 before I retire or die at the poker table - whichever is soonest. We also saw the return of Emir and Mr Merry.

The Results (league will be updated after Mon Game)

Ahmet Bozdenir 15
Amanda Williams 10
Lynsey (Green Chip) 8
Chris Malone 7
Ian Smith 6
Alex Bonnefoy (Did not win so still French) 5
Emir Attig 4
Shaun Herran 3

Wooden Spoon - Sebastian Arbuthnot Hercules Dean the 16th (the landlord)

Re Loose Cannon it has been brought to my attention that some people think the blinds go up to steep on the Tuesday Game - with 6k in play per player that can often be 300k in chips or more in play and the only way to run a tournament with that amount of chips and for it to finish at reasonable O'clock for those that work the next day is to put the blinds up quite steeply - so we will have to rethink re Tuesday - either we limit the add ons or we reduce the chipstack and either go with making it a 1k stack for a fiver and a big pot or increase the buy in and have it back as one r/b or add on. Comments on a postcard please.

Tues 14th October - Rugby Poker Tournament pulled by ENS due to Le Crunch
Sadly I received the following email from Heidi who was organising The Event at The BT tower

Dear Steve,
Thank you for all the help with the event on the 29th, but due the way the climate is at the moment we have had to postpone the dinner until further notice. Once again thanks for all your poker advice it was greatly appreciated and we are sorry we cannot help you with a poker prize.
All the very best
Heidi
Heidi@ensltd.com

Now Obviously I advertised this in good faith and can not do anything about it - if the game is not going to happen then one of us can not go - I wonder if all those bankers that were going to pay £300 a ticket have suddenly pulled out. Anyway I am as disappointed as the rest of you. You can email Heidi to let her know how upset you are if you want.

Tues 14th @ Loose Cannon - You can win a Home Poker Tourney Night From Pokerpitstop.com

Hamish Cross
Neil Milalo
Luke Smith
Mathieu Bile
Catherine Toni (def the Glamour)
Andy Blake
Shaun Herran
Me

A quieter than normal night but nonetheless still 4 tables worth and I just managed to squeeze into the points, first was still a huge amount and he was not unhappy LOl The New British person Matt Jones managed to get 50 squid for 4th so he is a happy bunny - oviously being British is paying off for him.

One thing if you spill a drink on a table get up and get a cloth, the amount of times I see this happen and the person just sits there and expects a cloth to appear as if by magic - WTF?????????

If you spill a drink go get a cloth and clear up after yourself !!!!!! A guy tonight just sat there and said "I thought there would be people here to do that for me" afterbeing prompted to get a cloth from the bar - the tables are only worth £400 each at Loose Cannon.

I am as peed off as anyone that the company behind the BT Tower event have pulled the plug and it is not something I will wish to repeat should they ask for our help again (see above).



Rant over

Kev From Pokerpitstop.com has very kindly donated a home game package for the winner of tonights game at Loose Cannon, so not only will the winner take home her/his share of the pot on Tuesday (c£7-800 Recently) but they will also get to invite up to 9 of their mates over to there house, where they will be provided with a professional dealer (so obviously not me then) A casino grade table, chips and cards for up to 5 hrs. The LPP/LPM/Loose Cannon Tuesday Game has to be one of the biggest pub poker games around midweek and certainly with an average pot of £7 - 800 definitely the biggest in terms of prize money.


Mon 13th @ Clerkenwell House
Because I felt rough I have no match report other than the following from Gav, who reports it was a good night and Dan Bryant took down his first win - the Volcano did not erupt and the results are as follows:- United Kingdom Null Points oh sorry thats not them - so I will just copy and paste :)

8th jay fletcher
7th samuel bradford
6thTTT tom ten t
5th yours truly!!
4th the hat
3rd karl kibble wadjamacallit
2nd ian smudger smith
1st dan bryant

Dan had offered to by everyone a drink when he first arrived to celebrate his monster wins over the weekend but changed his mind to just his table when he saw the arrival of the late crew - still top bombing Dan who apparently won £1200 over the weekend at various poker places!!

Sat 10th Apple Tree Game - Won by Mathieu Bile
Congrats to Mathieu Bile who beat a very strong field of 45 others to win The Saturday Game, he ended on a streak hitting quads against Briony to knock her out 3rd and then partially destroyed Hassan by pushing with Q 3 when short stacked and hitting a 3 and ended up decimating Hassans stack with aces versus 2nd places KQ SOOOOOOOOOOOOOted. Mathieu agreed to become British and give up being French if he won the tournament earlier on and so with his win Matt is now British and he will become Matt Jones (see it often pays to come 2nd rather than win). Very good day ran by Angela and a great crowd.

Fri 9th Looose Cannon Game - Won by Amanda and some other woman. Congratulations to Amanda Williams for battling through a strong crowd to take Friday down - she definitely was the crowds favourite and she was not unhappy with the £500 prize money either - drinks on her then :)

Thursday 9th October - Results & Going full circle

1st Bob The Hat
2nd Andrew Winstanley
3rd Ian Smith
4th Ky Lee
5th Jacobo Montoya
6th Jason Randall
7th Michael Dunby
8th Mitch Januszka
Funny how life can go,almost 2 years to the day that I first became interested in getting a game going - I have just agreed a deal with a major player in the free to play pub poker industry - we have 40 venues that are interested and we will run these games on this company's behalf.

Very soon you will be no more than 5 minutes away from a FREE to Play Pub Poker Game, the leagues are 2 months long and this company offers regional and national prizes.

Is it the end of us ????? No Not at all we will keep 2-3 of our existing games and the Free games will be separate to what we currently do - though you may find that some of our existing venues will also run a free to play night. I will announce more about this excitng new partnership very shortly after the Birthday game on Saturday. Players will have the option of playing in our existing games, The new Free to Play Games or a mixture of both.

The head of Change Bob Mac will undoubtedly have something to say as yet again he becomes the last to know (shush do not tell him lol). If you know of any pubs or bars/clubs that may be interested in having a game - let us know - we will even offer you a reward if they sign up.

The Venues will get free equipment, chips, cards etc and be part of Britain's Best Free to Play Pub Poker League - we anticipate having 200 venues by this time next year across London and The South East.......

Mon 6th - Weds 8th Results so far this week

Weds 8th @ The Apple Tree

Chris Morris 15
Luke Smith10
Sean Nicol 8
Me 7
Debbie Collier 6
Steven Oditt 5
Tom Minter 4
Stephanie Randall 3

Tuesday 7th @Loose Cannon

Dan Prebble 15
David Evemy 10
Peter Cuff 8
Danny O'Shea 7
Rob Downs 6
Steve Oditt 5
Mathieu Bile 4
Will Williams 3

Monday 6th Clerkenwell House
Graham Rooney 15
Justin Dolby 10
Adam Halpen 8
Chris Cain 7
Amanda Williams 6
Luke Smith 5
Jues Webber 4
Gavinda 3