Black Belt Poker Grading and She Killed My Account!

First of all I will announce my position, Snoopy is one of my favourite people in poker. When I first covered a few live events he was incredibly generous with the time he proffered to help out a newbie with a ton of stupid questions, Including;

Me: Whose that bloke over there with the cowboy hat?
Snoops: That’s Doyle Brunson.
Me: Really, I thought he was black?
Snoops: No that’s Phil Ivey.
Me: Where? (looking around and then pointing) over there?
Snoops: No that’s Jennifer Tilly.
Me: Ohhh, cheers mate.

I thought he was treated so shabbily by Blonde and was happy he landed on his feet with black belt poker. Both Snoops and Jen (who is also very nice but I have spoken too much less) are very talented and I can see BBP becoming a genuinely terrific place to visit. Nik I’ve had a few laughs with table side when he was railing EPT London and Neil I’ve never spoken too, but he seems a very nice chap.

I was quick to sign up to the site and although it needs work looks like something that the poker community will really use. So all positive, until I started reading a lot of blogs of people I like and respect, It does appear to me that a lot of the grading techniques are flawed, what you learn from grading people at levels they won’t ever want to play or care about is beyond me but Steve Holden who experienced the whole process has done a much better job than I could ever at pointing out possible improvements here.

What I will comment on though (and I have on Steve’s blog) is that I believe announcing to the players who have worked hard for a solid month chasing there dream of sponsorship, which in the process has also lined your companies pockets with rake back, that they have failed over the radio is absolutely despicable. The personal touch is everything.

On the personal front I will be making an online deposit this week for only the second time in the last five years, started free rolling up last week after six months off from poker, I’d told the wife about the money and she went and blew the lot! She was very sheepish and admitted to a bit of a tilt session, I said I’d put some money online by way of compensation so any suggestions on good reload bonuses (I have accounts, everywhere!)let me know.

Wedding anniversary this weekend, lost brownie points earlier in the week when wife overheard me talking to a mate, “Yeah, well it’s the most important weekend of the year for me”, Queue wife looking over lovingly and thinking ‘His so romantic’, me continuing, “Yeah, the final weekend of the premier league season and the play off finals, I’m in heaven”. Queue evil looks and salad for dinner.

The in-laws came for the weekend and bought us a Wii for our anniversary, nice one! We did the whole coastal thing this weekend, Kilve for a picnic and rock pooling on Saturday, Ilfracombe for lunch on Sunday, and the beach at Sidmouth on Monday. Got to love living in the West Country.

I took the wife to a very nice restaurant on Saturday night called the willow tree, the nearest juicer was the pitcher and piano, most of the locals refer to it as the library as ‘quelle surprise’ the building once housed the towns library, it’s a magnificent building. On the outside it has a stunning red edifice with ornate carvings, tall stained glass windows and a wonderful little garden, on the inside it has a sweeping staircase and marvellous chandeliers and chequered floor tiles. Bit of a waste for a pitcher and piano really!

Something very strange must have happened in the 70’s to architects and town planners, the Taunton library being a prime example because they left this beautiful building to stand idle and dwindle to dereliction so they could move the library to a newly built brick monster that’s about the same size and 400 yards away, fucking idiots.

Anyway something of a local ‘joke’ when talking about somewhere to go for a pint is to use the phrase ‘a quiet night in at the library’, its so annoying and I hate this phrase as well, I mean how can you even have a quite night in at the library, do you actually live in a fucking library? Are you a librarian? If not then it makes no sense! On Saturday we went in for a pre-meal early evening drink and where both a little surprised when we walked in to find a queue at the bar as early evening it’s usually pretty dead.

Anyway we eventually get served and make our way to our usual seats. I spot a notice up on the wall for speed dating. So that’s why the place is so busy this early, the speed dating starts in half hours or so.

I can hear the large woman whose running the show telling everyone to line up and take there number badges. It occurs to me that everything in the modern world is done quickly now, speed dating leads, to speed weddings, quick kids and quickie divorces.

We are at the edge of the tables that are being used and to all intent and purpose we look like where involved in the speed dating. The first ‘Round’ of dates starts and I need a pee, I stand up and well what happened next isn’t my fault, I suffer from a rare and little known disease called “Jacobsen’s congener” this is where if something occurs to me to be funny then I have to follow through regardless of whether or not its actually funny or whether there will be serious consequences to my actions. Ohh, how I suffer.

Anyway as I get up from the table, I say at the top of my voice, “Would anyone mind swapping early? This bird’s just dropped her guts and I’m not having that!” The look the wife gave me!