Mr Brightside

[Laxie]

Personally I"d love to see team events to embrace an anything goes policy.. to compare an individual event to a team event and apply the same rules is just illogical and nonsensical IMO. We all know the rules for individual events and chip dumping / soft play etc is against the rules, but for team events why not.

Just to engage....I agree completely.

Unfortunately, what we currently have is a bast@rdised team event with some soft play, no actual team tactics and half the money going to individuals.

Take the individual element right out of any team events and have done with it.

And for the record I totally agree too, but will work with whatever is put forward because we don"t get to many as it is.

[Fatcatstu]

Will probably to be too hungover to care :p

[Paulie_D]

Will probably to be too hungover to care :p

Won"t care because I"m not playing....yet!

[PHIL_TC]

So 2014 hasn"t started off the best.  2013 started with my mam passing away unexpectedly. 2014 starts with a phone call from my sister in law telling me my brother"s (for those of you who made my stag doo #1 at York you"ll have shared a beer with him) been diagnosed with cancer. Won"t go into details but it"s a very rare form which has spread from his appendix into his stomach and now into his spleen and liver. Haven"t told Anna yet. Where do you start?


anyway.. brightside...

It is operable, with his first operation scheduled for the 3rd of Feb. He"s private so is in the very best of care and it"s getting sorted quick. He"s a strong willed b*gger and even though its a long and complex op, he"ll come through it and I know he"ll recover.

Personally I was holding off plans for Stoke. Had given Jack a heads up a week or so back saying I might have to pull out of the Forum side depending on when his op was scheduled for. Of course Jack being Jack he was 100% understanding and supportive. Was pleased to confirm to him this morning that I"ll be definitely there. Will stop by Sheffield on the way to Stoke to see him so will be missing in action Friday night. Will make up for it Saturday.

Looking forward to it more than ever now x

[Erimus]

Sorry to hear about your brother send him our best wishes, we had a diagnosis of prostate cancer in our family before Christmas, brother in law, his surgery due early February, good luck to them both.

[PHIL_TC]

Had a blast in Stoke. Some great banter was had and the guinness flowed to the point where I was knocked out somewhere around the 130 mark.. no good for the team but we all had a ball. Too many people to mention, obviously my team mates, was great to catchup with Dai, Micky P, Darren, Karen.. my good mate Stu.. and of course captain Marvel Jack and Dawn. Great time was had by all. Was great to see everyone else, some too briefly, many a hug was shared.. thanks to all on my first table for making it so much fun, especially Delboy and Debs.. OH and a huge thank you to everyone (especially Ger, Shaz and Jo who were also railing) who made Lilly welcome at her first APAT and hopefully not her last. She had a ball and ended up winning over £250 on 3 card by the time we crashed at 2am on the Saturday night. Needless to say she was happy.

With being "in the area" I managed to trip to Manchester on the Sunday to see my brother before his first cancer op, and am now packing to go and stay near the hospital for a couple of days to see him once he"s out of critical care. All initial signs are good although the tumours have spread and they werent able to get them all out. Another op is planned and chemo. Got all fingers, toes and eyes crossed for him.

Have fallen seriously out of love with poker this past year or so.. online has zero interest for me.. and live has been ebbing away. The weekend gone reminds me how much I love the game.. but more so the people who play it within APAT. These weekends really are the best times. Thanks to you all who make it so x

BTW.. think this is a GREAT interview that sums up for me why poker is dying. Worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DXSIv8b4KM

x

[pokerpops]

The Hachem interview is interesting, but for balance this is a long read, but...

http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2014/02/old-school-new-school-or-back-to-school.html

[Swinebag]

Great pick Dave.

I agree that Hachem"s comments seem a bit self serving. In fact the only thing I agreed with Joe about is how poor form it is when games insta break once the fish leaves.

Don"t agree that poker is dying and isn"t fun anymore. It is getting harder and maybe that is where the fun is dying for Joe

[PHIL_TC]

Yup good pick Dave and an interesting read for balance. Find myself agreeing with points from both camps.. and disagreeing with a fair few as well. For sure the poker environment has significantly changed and got tougher these last few years.. whether for the better is personally debatable though.

Going to wrap up this blog for a little while as struggling to find the brightside at the moment. A year ago today my mam passed. RIP.. and found out this week that my brother has terminal cancer. They took 5 kilo of cancer out.. but theres still lots that they can"t take. Looks like we"re talking years rather than months, but still. Will catch back up with you dear reader when the brightside shows up x

[technolog]

Really gutted to hear about your your brother, Phil. Big hugs xxx

[Supernova]

I"m so sorry to hear your news Phil  

it was fab to meet Lily too, what a lovely lass, you"re a lucky man but you know that :-) xxx

[josharp01]

Really sorry to hear about your brother Phil, thinking of you all.

Was great to meet Lily at Stoke, as Shaz says, you"re a lucky guy and she"s a lovely lass!

[PHIL_TC]

Thanks Jack, Shaz and Jo x

Quick poker update from the weekend gone APAT up at Newcastle, decided to go up the night before (Saturday) with Lilly and have a trip round memory lane with her being a geordie lass. Got up at round 5pm, got a free double room upgrade to the penthouse with free bar and food.. running good   then visited numerous bars and clubs through the town, jumping from place to place via taxi. Great fun. Ended up at Aspers at around midnight for "a few".. the few turned into more than a few (shocker) and at around 5am and a few hundred up between us I left Lilly at the 3 card and visited to the gents.. on coming back was met with the Lilly being a little upset after some guy had watched me leave and then refuse to take no for an answer from Lilly.. management and security had to be called and the guy escorted off the premises. Bit of a sour end to the evening but overall we"d had a ball. There sure are some bell ends in this world.

5.30 we get back to the hotel and find out we can get cooked breakfast in bed.. after filling out some menus (just ticking everything really) we for some reason decide it would be great to be woken at 9am with food.. at 8:45am there"s a knock at the door which was hazily opened and then a procession of food.. hot and cold.. and trays was brought in by 4 staff. As updated on facebook. at 5.30 it seemed like the best idea ever. At 8:45.. worst idea ever  

As the poker was starting at 12 we struggled through it.. packed up and got back to aspers like we"d never left at 11:45am only for Des after several hugs for us both to tell us there was 2 hours late reg... "didn"t we know?".. Champion  :"( I should read the forum more often...

Lilly ventured back to the 3 card and doubled up again..  my APAT didn"t go so great with a bad play a few hours levels in.. thoughts if you can be bothered.. starting stack was 10K and I"d just treaded water / tried to stay awake to just under 12K.. the table had been crackers with chips flying about all over. I"m UTG at 150/300/25 with Kings and raise upto 800. Get a call from mr serial caller in mid position and the big blind calls as well.

Flop comes down 4,6,7 with 2 hearts.. I lead out with 2K.. mid position goes all in for about 5K and then big blind goes all in for about 10K.. what to do? thinking I"m up against a set, and or draws I dwell for a little while.. then fold. Mid position turns over 5,7 off and big blind has J,8 of hearts. Of course the turn and river blank out and I"d have been upto 25K+ stack.. but it felt like I was behind at the time to one of them. Never mind.. after that and a few levels later I open shove on the button with 5"s, blinds wake up with JJ and AK   no sweat for me, an ace on the turn brings a cheer though, the jack on the river brought a bigger one though.. live poker.. it"s all rigged

Had a great time though, and made some new friends at the tables whilst trying to promote all thats fantastic about the world of APAT. Good to catch up with Des as well.. even if it did end up with more work when I got home! Next APAT for me.. I"m not sure, maybe the main at the worlds.. all depends on my brother.. we"re still waiting on test results to see if he"s eligible for chemo. Fingers and toes crossed x

[PHIL_TC]

Las Vegas gambler sues after losing $500,000 "while drunk"

"Look, I had some drinks at the airport," he told CNN. "I had a drink on the plane. You know, at some point that"s my responsibility, OK.

"But the unfortunate part about it for them [the casino] is that they have a more, bigger responsibility than I do."

He added: "Just picture a drunk walking down the street and somebody goes up and just pickpockets him. That"s how I characterise it."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26476980

[MintTrav]

Las Vegas gambler sues after losing $500,000 "while drunk"

"Look, I had some drinks at the airport," he told CNN. "I had a drink on the plane. You know, at some point that"s my responsibility, OK.

"But the unfortunate part about it for them [the casino] is that they have a more, bigger responsibility than I do."

He added: "Just picture a drunk walking down the street and somebody goes up and just pickpockets him. That"s how I characterise it."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26476980

I think he has a good chance of winning his case, as the casino broke the law by allowing him to gamble when he was visibly drunk.

Maybe there are a few APAT players who might want to join him in a class action.