SkyPoker have brought something new into the world of poker.  It's interactive TV - and despite the critics, it's working and it's making them money.  It's also bringing a lot of people into poker - and that can only be a good thing. 

The main show on SkyPoker is The Open, a multi-table tournament that's on most nights and people can play along at home whilst 'experts' in the studio comment on hands and studio guests also take part in the tournament.  I appeared on the show last year, and it was good fun.  The Open itself is a bit of a 'luckfest' - the blinds go up so quickly that you need a lot of luck to do well, and it's a format that suits the looser players (whereas my play is a lot tighter and favours a slower blind structure).

Anyway, SkyPoker have introduced different shows, with differing success.  One that has been introduced recently is Stacked Up.

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APAT are running another 'National' event in August, this time with the added twist of a Team Challenge element to it as well as the individual prizes (included the added value of a GUKPT seat & package for the winner, worth a few grand in itself).

For a bit of fun, BlueSQ who are the sponsors of APAT this season (it was PokerStars last season when I was lucky enough to win the English APAT event and a seat to the EPT in Copenhagen), have put a book on the individual players and the teams competing.

For some strange reason, I'm currently one of the second favourites at 66/1 - which isn't particularly good value.  There is some good value on some other players though, some who are sitting at 125/1.  An each-way bet is for anyone reaching the final table and pays 1/8 of the odds.

The odds are here.

I'm captain of the blondepoker team.  We're currently 3rd favourites and this might be a good bet, depending on how seriously we take the poker rather than enjoying ourselves in Blackpool! 

Since my first weekend at DTD that I wrote about a month back, I've been going every Friday evening to play on the cash tables.

I've been on a good run, and since the drop on the first night, I've managed to finish every session since then with at least twice as much as I sat down with.

Must say, I'm really enjoying playing live.  The banter is good and there are players who are easily parted with their money (as well as others who are an altogether tougher proposition).

Yesterday, I arrived at DTD at about 8:30, and their £75 freezeout tournament was in full swing, with about 80 runners.  I glance around to see who I know, and see Bev Pace (Women’s World Open champion, and long-suffering wife of comedian and poker fanatic Norman Pace) and say hello.  Also on her table is John Kalmar, or Skalie to his mates.  A good friend of the Pace's, but more well-known in poker for his 5th place finish in the main event of the WSOP last year, and a pay-day of $1,255,069.  I wonder if he was concerned about the £75 buy-in for last night's tournament…?  

I got myself a drink and changed a £100 into poker chips ready for the table that was about to be opened for a 50p/£1 cash game.

The table was good fun, with a few faces that are now becoming familar, as well as some new ones.  The banter at the table was excellent, and what was more important was that I was steadily growing my stack at the same time as having a laugh.

A young lad was sat immediately to my right.  It was immediately obvious that he was Bev and Norm's son.  Charlie's 18, and he was having a ball at his first visit to DTD.  He managed to recover from an early loss to be be in slight profit, but was more concerned about enjoying himself and getting his next drink! 

Not too much later, Bev sat at the table and joined in.  Having clashed with Bev across the table before I was well aware of the standard of her play, and would need to be on the ball if we clashed.  In the early hours of Saturday morning, Norm, their other son Liam, and Skalie reached the final table of the tournament and then when they were finished, they joined the 50p/£1 cash tables as well.  Liam joined our table, and with Kila (Mrs Kalmar) also at the table it had a 'home-game' feel about it.

I played till about 5am, and left with a decent profit, tired but looking forward to next week.  What a great way to spend an evening.

Whilst my gorgeous wife Michelle was away in Milan this weekend visiting a friend, I decided to take the opportunity to spend some time at Dusk Till Dawn, the new poker club in Nottingham (I've written about the idea behind DTD, but that was before it was finished and opened).  I've been a few times before, but as I was home alone, I decided I'd become nocturnal for the weekend and play a couple of decent sessions on the cash tables.

Dusk Till Dawn - The Club 

The Dusk Till Dawn poker club (DTD) was the brainchild of Rob Yong, and many poker players agree that it's the best poker room in Europe.  I don't have a great deal of experience playing live, so I'm not the best judge - but it's certainly a step up from any card room at any casino I've been to. 

Fortunately for me, DTD is in Rob's hometown of Nottingham, and so only half an hour from me.  Rob not only ploughed in millions of his own money into the club, he had to spend several years fighting the opposition to the club from several of the large casino chains.  You can read the story of how DTD came to be on Rob's thread on the blonde poker forum.  It's well worth a read.

But anyway, back to the card room itself. 

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Dave Ulliott is one of the most successful British poker players of all time.  After spending his late teens and early twenties involved in crime, including two spells in prison, he moved away from that life and it was poker where he found his wealth and fame.

He won a WSOP bracelet in 1997 (one of the few Brits to have done that), and his appearances on the first series of Late Night Poker in 1999 (that he went on to win) were one of the reasons for the huge poker boom that has grown to the extent it has in the UK.  It was the first TV programme to use cameras to show the hole cards of the players, letting the viewer see what was previously hidden from them. 

He's well known for his nick-name, "Devilfish".   Which sounds pretty cool.  The story goes that it was given to him by Stephen Yeung at a game in Birmingham.  Dave himself tells the story like this:

"The Devilfish was given to me by a Chinese guy in Birmingham by the name of Stevie. This guy likened me to the Devilfish because I'm very aggressive and I give 'em the needle after I take the money off them. The Devilfish is the fish that only a few chefs can prepare - if they don't take the poison out right it'll kill you."

This is where I have to point something out.  I think Stevie might have made a mistake.

The name 'Devilfish' is actually incorrect.  The fish I guess he was meant to be named after is actually the puffer fish or blow fish, called fugu in Japanese. 

A devil fish is actually a genus of ray that is part of the family of eagle rays.  It's also the name given to some species of octopus in America.  I've searched all over the web to find other instances of fugu being referred to as a 'devil fish'.  I couldn't find any.

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I can't hear or read the word Vienna without thinking about Ultravox's 1980 single that reached number two in the UK charts (and amusingly kept off the number 1 spot by Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face).

Anyway, the reason I mention Vienna is because that's where the European Amateur Poker Championship is being held this year, and last night I won a seat and expenses package to play in it. 

When I say it's in Vienna, it's not.  It's at the Poker Royale Casino, which is in Wiener Neustadt (the new Viennese city) which apparently is the second largest city in Lower Austria and is situated 25 miles south of Vienna.  So it's close enough I guess.

The tournament is on the 22-23 March, and I'll give you a report of how I get on. 

♠ 

Edit:  Decided not to play in the end, and instead stuck the money into my bankroll and I'll play over here (at DTD) instead.

Starting the day with a stack just short of 16,000 I knew I'd be getting busy early on.  Just quite how early though was a bit of surprise.

This was the table, which coincidently enough was Table 13 again, and although I was in seat 3 this time (not 4), it was actually the same chair.  Variety being the spice of life and all that. 

1. Pernille Ravn
2. Simon Mycock
3. Daniel Phillips
4. Steven Heard
5. Atle Walgren
6. Peter Jepsen
7. Anders Berg
8. Donny Morris

Anyway, first hand, I had and my raise took a call and the blinds down uncontested.   Nice start.

Next hand, the UTG player shoves his remaining 9,000 in.  All fold round to me on the button, and I look at my cards - .  I re-raise all-in, and everyone else folds.  The other player shows , and the on the flop meant that I was back down to about 10,000.

So, two hands in and I've had the hole cards I wanted, but not the results to go with them.

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