Table Talk With Tikay
Sunday, 8 June 2014
Tony Kendall takes us through the month.
Russell Grant? Step Aside, Son.
Well hello again. Like the bad penny, I’m back. Bluff must be short of content, as they gave me a second chance.
So how about this for a spooky prediction?
In my previous piece, I bigged up Vicky Coren, said what a great poker ambassador she is, and how she ought to be Knighted, or Sirred.
I even wrote, “She has an EPT on her CV.”
That piece was written BEFORE she went and won another EPT, and now the world is all over Vicky, and quite right too.
You read it here first. Afterwards.
I also said I was in love with her, but now I hear Her Majesty-Ness Coren is swerving Vegas because she would miss her hubby too much.
He married a poker player? He must be some sort of comedian.
We are done Vicky, I’m over it. Sorry, you had your chance. David WHO?
Vegas Baby?
Why “Baby”?
We don’t hear “New York Baby”, or any other baby, but poker players love those clichés, so, as the annual pilgrimage begins (see, that cliché again, pilgrimage) Vegas BABY it has to be.
Pretty sure we shall get a goodly few Brit WSOP Bangly-Bracelets again this year.
Predictions?
Yeah, of course. Chris Brammer is a lock for most Brit cashes, and the surprise package will be young Ryan Spittles.
The PokerStars UKIPT at Dusk Till Dawn was breathtakingly good. It was like a merger between BMW and Mercedes, or Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. When you put the best of two disciplines together, the chemistry can fail, but my oh my, that UKIPT affair at Dusk Till Dawn was a stunner.
Everything about it was tickety-boo, faultless to a fault. You could not see the join, just two superbly run organisations somehow setting egos to one side and coming up with a festival to die for.
Brick and Mortar poker has not exactly set the poker world on fire in the last decade – the truth is, poker players have had the wrong end of a bad deal. But suddenly, things are looking up, and players are being treated respectfully. The rest will follow, as sure as God made little apples.
It can only be great for poker. Poker NEEDS that sort of stuff. Now the players need to do the same, and support live poker.
Ten or twelve years ago, the poker world mocked those pesky internet players. Then it reversed, and online players now mock “lol live pros”.
We should not be mocking either. Both depend and feed upon each other.
Respect both codes. The players should respect each other more, too, and together we can make poker better. We can.
In the ‘Olden Days’...I noted the name of Nic Szeremeta amongst the UKIPT players. Wow, what a memory-jerker that was.
Nic – who might even be older than me – used to run a magazine called Poker-Europa. He was also a tidy 7-card stud player, too.
Poker-Europa started in 1999, and eventually went to meet its maker just three years ago.
Oh my, we used to read every word of that magazine, from cover to cover, even though the entire contents were repeated three times in three different languages. No, I’m serious, that how it worked. A multi-lingual print mag. What?
Incredible, really. Things were different then, and we thought it was the greatest thing ever. And it was. No internet, see?
Then the internet came along. All changed. Everything went online.
Now we have properly balanced, nimble-footed companies like Bluff (Aw shucks, we’re blushing – Ed). They are thriving, and operate a dual business model both in hard copies and online. OK, I mentioned Bluff, but I am told there are other, undoubtedly lesser titles, available, too. Top shelf jobs though, so be warned.
Again, don’t take these things for granted, because poker would be noticeably poorer without them. They’re one of those things you wouldn’t miss until you missed it, if you get my drift.
ALL components of poker need to work together.
Yes Yes YESSSSSSS!I was playing a NLH jobbie and witnessed a bizarre affair.
Aces man raises, Queens man peels.
Q-high flop, BOOM.
Aces man leads out.
Queens man does the theatrical, “Oh, what shall I do?” thing. Then moves all-in. Seems reasonable.
Now Aces man goes into the tank. He thinks, and thinks, then thinks some more.
Queens man’s body language told the whole story. He’s ACHING for the call.
After some gnashing of teeth, Aces man makes the sigh-call. See, the obligatory cliché, sigh-call. First time a bloke told me about a sigh-call, I thought he was talking about his bike.
Anyway, Queens man now gives it the Mark 9 Table Bang:
“Yes yes YESSSSSSS! *BANG BANG BANG* I knew I could induce the call!”
You just know what happens next – yup, an Ace rivers.
Whereupon Queens man berates Aces man, “That’s the worst call ever, you ****!”
Poker does not make fools of us. We manage quite nicely ourselves, thank you.
And Finally – King for a Day.I love that game, “when I’m King for a day…”
Do you ever play it? You should. What would you wish for? Forget real-life, just poker. Here’s my list:
- 5 Brit Bracelets at the WSOP this year.
- Poker to get back on the growth trail.
- More support for the grass roots players, the pub leagues, and those who run them.
- More variety in poker. NLH is great, but there are other games, too. (Note that please, Brick and Mortar organisers.)
- Please let me cash in a WSOP PLO or PLO8 Event.
I’ll take any 3 from 5. No point including the 66/1 shot.
Take care now, and remember the F-word when pokering. FUN.