Variable Clock
Well, they began at 45 minutes, increased to 60, increased again to 90 minutes, then decreased back down to 60. Evidence enough, you’d say, to have everyone at The Vic hauled before the moaning minnies and shot.
Almost without exception, early bustees blamed the structure, led by none other than his Holiness Boy Band Ulliott, whose description of it was summed up in a 9 word sentence, of which 7 words were four letter affairs beginning with ‘f’.
I attempted to defend it on the Forum, and found myself up against the heavy artillery, getting a good slapping into the bargain.
Oddly, none of those who made the final day were prepared to criticize the structure, the worst being heard was Monty Burns’ summing up of it in his Poker 425 interview as ‘strange’.
And none other than The Camel took the contrary view – ‘it’s a lovely structure,’ said the Ruminator.
My final verdict? Well, I’m bound to say, changing the clock 4 times is pretty ‘original’, to say the least.
Do we have a white flag smiley?
The German Boy.
Jan Heitmann, that’s Jan pronounced ‘yan’, produced an extraordinary performance, to eventually finish 2nd, attracting an army of admirers along the way. The guy has a most peculiar, and awkward to counter, poker style – and absolutely loved to play flops, where he always seemed to know where he was. The ‘check-call’ method, also employed by Marc ‘Mr Cool’ Goodwin, only works if you hit cards, and this kid was hitting cards all three days. But that’s not to say he was not a good player, he most certainly knew what he was doing, and knew the maths of every situation.
Well presented, smart, clean and tidy, a smile was never far from his face, and although he put ugly beats on any number of opponents, he went home with a lot more admirers than he arrived with.
He’s Dublin-bound for the Paddy Power Irish Open – watch out for him.
The Deal
The moment Mr Colclough exited in 3rd spot, collecting £44,300, Jan Heitmann and John Kabbaj struck a deal, £90,000 each, and play for £27,000, very nice too.
The argument that prize structures are too top heavy has no defense, it just has not, so how on earth are we going to get casinos to recognize this? 25%, maybe a tad more, is plenty for the winner, and if you examine most deals in big finals, the winner has usually settled for somewhere in the range of 25% to 30% of the total pool. It’s no good casinos complaining that tourneys always end in deals, the answer is simple – flatten the prize structure. It would cost them nothing, and would attract universal praise. What’s so difficult about making the change? Come on Grosvenor, make that change for the better. You can do it. Go on!
Stephen Pearce
It was obvious from his opponent’s reaction, and indeed the Forum feedback, that Mr Pearce is hardly the most popular of guys. Trash talking and arrogance is his stock-in-trade, and he’s damn good at it. He’s wound me up on the table a few times, but I’ve never had an off-table conversation with him, so I’m in no position to say whether his table act is just a façade, or the real Stephen. But here’s the weird thing. Many of us know another guy – American as it happens - who majors in trash talk, reckons he’s the bees knees, and yet we all love him. Stephen may yet become as popular as The Rookie. He’s got a helluuva way to go yet though! And a Bracelet would help too. Bracelets prove you can walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. And THAT’S why we love The Rookie. You’d better go win that bracelet Stephen, then you can trash talk us all day and night, and everyone will love you. Weird world this poker, eh?
Upstairs, Downstairs
It always strikes me as weird that at The Vic, the tourneys are spread over three cardrooms and two floors. There is ample room on either floor to assemble the entire field in one area, I do wish they would have a bash at doing this.
John Kabbaj
Our winner surprised me greatly when I did the mandatory winners interview with him for Poker 425. Apparently, it had long been an ambition of his to win a decent tourney at The Vic, and he told us he was ‘thrilled’. Mind you, £117,000 has that effect on folks.
John and I attended the same school, in Acton, West London, though I believe he was there a couple of years after me. Acton is clearly becoming a poker academy for the UK’s best players.
Jeff, Brian & Jo
One last comment on The Vic, and all the bad publicity they have had this week regarding structures, The guys who, it seems to me, run the cardrooms have always bent over backwards to help blonde, and our updaters. I suppose I should not let that influence my view of The Vic, but I can’t help it, they are OK guys, all three of them. A little kindness goes a very long way.
Well, they began at 45 minutes, increased to 60, increased again to 90 minutes, then decreased back down to 60. Evidence enough, you’d say, to have everyone at The Vic hauled before the moaning minnies and shot.Almost without exception, early bustees blamed the structure, led by none other than his Holiness Boy Band Ulliott, whose description of it was summed up in a 9 word sentence, of which 7 words were four letter affairs beginning with ‘f’.
I attempted to defend it on the Forum, and found myself up against the heavy artillery, getting a good slapping into the bargain.
Oddly, none of those who made the final day were prepared to criticize the structure, the worst being heard was Monty Burns’ summing up of it in his Poker 425 interview as ‘strange’.
And none other than The Camel took the contrary view – ‘it’s a lovely structure,’ said the Ruminator.
My final verdict? Well, I’m bound to say, changing the clock 4 times is pretty ‘original’, to say the least.
Do we have a white flag smiley?
The German Boy.
Jan Heitmann, that’s Jan pronounced ‘yan’, produced an extraordinary performance, to eventually finish 2nd, attracting an army of admirers along the way. The guy has a most peculiar, and awkward to counter, poker style – and absolutely loved to play flops, where he always seemed to know where he was. The ‘check-call’ method, also employed by Marc ‘Mr Cool’ Goodwin, only works if you hit cards, and this kid was hitting cards all three days. But that’s not to say he was not a good player, he most certainly knew what he was doing, and knew the maths of every situation.
Well presented, smart, clean and tidy, a smile was never far from his face, and although he put ugly beats on any number of opponents, he went home with a lot more admirers than he arrived with.
He’s Dublin-bound for the Paddy Power Irish Open – watch out for him.
The Deal
The moment Mr Colclough exited in 3rd spot, collecting £44,300, Jan Heitmann and John Kabbaj struck a deal, £90,000 each, and play for £27,000, very nice too.
The argument that prize structures are too top heavy has no defense, it just has not, so how on earth are we going to get casinos to recognize this? 25%, maybe a tad more, is plenty for the winner, and if you examine most deals in big finals, the winner has usually settled for somewhere in the range of 25% to 30% of the total pool. It’s no good casinos complaining that tourneys always end in deals, the answer is simple – flatten the prize structure. It would cost them nothing, and would attract universal praise. What’s so difficult about making the change? Come on Grosvenor, make that change for the better. You can do it. Go on!
Stephen Pearce
It was obvious from his opponent’s reaction, and indeed the Forum feedback, that Mr Pearce is hardly the most popular of guys. Trash talking and arrogance is his stock-in-trade, and he’s damn good at it. He’s wound me up on the table a few times, but I’ve never had an off-table conversation with him, so I’m in no position to say whether his table act is just a façade, or the real Stephen. But here’s the weird thing. Many of us know another guy – American as it happens - who majors in trash talk, reckons he’s the bees knees, and yet we all love him. Stephen may yet become as popular as The Rookie. He’s got a helluuva way to go yet though! And a Bracelet would help too. Bracelets prove you can walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. And THAT’S why we love The Rookie. You’d better go win that bracelet Stephen, then you can trash talk us all day and night, and everyone will love you. Weird world this poker, eh?
Upstairs, Downstairs
It always strikes me as weird that at The Vic, the tourneys are spread over three cardrooms and two floors. There is ample room on either floor to assemble the entire field in one area, I do wish they would have a bash at doing this.
John KabbajOur winner surprised me greatly when I did the mandatory winners interview with him for Poker 425. Apparently, it had long been an ambition of his to win a decent tourney at The Vic, and he told us he was ‘thrilled’. Mind you, £117,000 has that effect on folks.
John and I attended the same school, in Acton, West London, though I believe he was there a couple of years after me. Acton is clearly becoming a poker academy for the UK’s best players.
Jeff, Brian & Jo
One last comment on The Vic, and all the bad publicity they have had this week regarding structures, The guys who, it seems to me, run the cardrooms have always bent over backwards to help blonde, and our updaters. I suppose I should not let that influence my view of The Vic, but I can’t help it, they are OK guys, all three of them. A little kindness goes a very long way.