The WBCOOP is a tournament series running from February 23rd until March 4th. It's for bloggers and it costs nothing to enter, zero, zip, nada!

There will be 30 side events, all paying out tickets to the SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker), a $5000 main event, and many big prizes for the best blogger, best tweeter and tournament leaderboard champion.

To enter, write a blog post telling everyone what you would do if you won the $5,000 Best Blogger prize and submit it to PokerStars. If you want to know what I'd use the $5,000 for then watch the video above :-)

All the details of the schedule, prizes and how to enter are here: http://www.pokerstars.com/blog_tournament/

It's already well into February and my poker volume for 2012 is way bellow what I'm aiming for. As part of Team PokerStars Online I have a certain commitment as far as earning VPPs and hours at the tables go. As part of that my goal is to earn 400,000 VPPs this year but I'm only at 22,000 right now.



The main reasons why I am behind already;

• The VIP reward changes and at the start of the year mean an extra hour or more of grinding every day for me to get the same number of VPPs. There has also been a recent rake reduction. That is great for improved winrate but means longer sessions to meet VPP goals.

• Computer issues didn't help, but I have a new setup now with 64-bit Windows 7, good gfx card, lots of RAM and most importantly - an SSD hard disk. If you use Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager then buying a solid state HDD is the best thing you could possibly do performance wise.

• Playing less tables to concentrate on TCOOP (didn't work out so well).

• I was on a 'normal' sleep schedule for a while. A good thing for living a healthy life but terrible for playing online poker as the games are pretty bad during the day in Asia with less games running and much fewer recreational players. When it is mid-day here in Thailand, it is 5am or 6am in Europe. I figure the best times for me to play poker are around 11pm-7am Thai Time, which is 4pm-Midnight in the UK.

I could list off a million reasons why living in Thailand is better than living in the UK. So I am pretty much undecided about what to do. There are also more countries in Asia that I want to visit but haven't had the chance yet. Specifically Korea, Japan and the Philippines. It will be a hell of a lot cheaper, quicker and easier for me to visit them from Thailand than from the UK. Heck, even India is only a 5 hour direct flight from here.

I'm feeling like there's a 40% chance I will move back to the UK around June. A 40% chance I will stay in Thailand much longer and a 20% chance I will move to Macau for 3-6 months before moving back the UK.

In the short term I will be leaving Thailand this week, as my visa expires. Normally this would be a good excuse to take a trip somewhere new and fun, but right now I can do without the expense (in terms of money and time spent) so I will just take another bus trip to the Cambodian border (PoiPet).


I will take an agency run trip which for $200 all inclusive in involves a 6 hour trip in a VIP bus to the border, crossing into the scary no-man's land between Thailand and Cambodia and staying in a dodgy casino hotel (with no internet connection) for 2 nights. The 2 night stay is so an Agent can takes my passport to the Thai embassy in Phnom Phen, Cambodia's capital city, which is very far away. When I check out the hotel he's brought my passport back with a brand new 3-month Thai visa. Then get the passport stamped at Thai immigration and bus back to Bangkok.

I've done this trip before. It's not much fun and the food is a joke but it's a cheap and no hassle way to get a visa. The last time I went with an Aussie girl so had some company. This time I will be going alone. Maybe I will try to find a poker game in one of the casinos or find some way to pass the time.

Do you like action? I hope so because the inaugural PokerStars TCOOP (Turbo Championship of Online Poker) is about to begin and this isn't your grandmother's tournament series. The faint-hearted among you need not apply.

The next 11 days will see 50 turbo championship events being played out with $10,000,000 in guarantees. That is sure to make for the kind of heart racing, adrenaline pumping action that has never been seen before in the history of poker.

The turbo MTTs have been hugely popular for quite a while so it's great that PokerStars has dedicated a series to them. I'm excited knowing that for a small financial outlay and time commitment I have the chance to bink some huge scores over the next 11 days.

It can be extremely difficult to set aside the time to play in regular speed tournaments, and for that reason I almost never play them them. The TCOOPs are likely to run in the 3-6 hour range and that is perfect for me. I also think the TCOOP structures will suit me a lot. Having played so many turbo SNGs I think that I'm as good as anyone in the world when it comes to playing with shallow stacks. So I'm ready to crush these TCOOPs!

Check out the TCOOP Schedule and give me a shout out on twitter @Daleroxxu to let me know what event you are most looking forward to. For me it has to be Event #2 - No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, it doesn't get more action-junky friendly than that! I also plan on playing every $22 buyin event. PokerStars has been handing out thousands of free $22 TCOOP tickets to depositors over the last couple of weeks so these events are going to be insanely soft. So my seatbelt is fastened and I'm ready to manoeuvre my way through the thousands of donke... ehh I mean obstacles that stand between me and the finish line.

It's 2012, the year of the dragon apparently. Hopefully that means I'll be dragon a lot of pots. UCWIDT?

photo by Donnie Peters

Here is a PDF file with the schedule. TCOOP is running on PokerStars from 19th to 29th January.

If you deposit $60 or more by January 18th using deposit code TCOOP you'll get a free $22 TCOOP ticket.  That should mean the $22 events will have huge fields and be absurdly soft. I'm hoping to win one of them and get the year of a to a good start. Good luck to all my fanboys who play :)

As of today, January 1st 2012, PokerStars have switched to a new method of assigning VPPs to players in ring games.

Old and New

In the past each player dealt into a hand was given an equal share of the VPPs earned in that hand. The new method assigns VPPs proportionally based on how much each player contributed to the pot.

With this 'weighted contributed' method the loose players will be rewarded more than they previously were, and the tighter players rewarded less. Winning players, in general, play a much tighter style than losing players, so are likely to be the ones most negatively affected by the change. This negative effect could be anything from very slight, to enormous depending on how tight a player is, but there will also be a few of the loose aggressive winning players who benefit.

Effect

I played my first PLO session of 2012 right after midnight ET. There were a bunch of the usual nitty regs there, probably trying to figure out how much this change is going to cost them. Most of them stopped playing after the first hour and the tables were much, much softer.

I played 2004 hands, would have earned 800 VPPs with the old 'dealt' method, but earned 635 VPPS with the new 'weighted contributed' method. I played 22% VPIP and the table averages were around 33% VPIP.

Of course as poker players we know it's not smart to make assumption based on small sample sizes.

I ran a SQL query on my HEM database for all my hands played in the December 2011 (CAP NLHE + full stack PLO, mostly 6-max). Based on that data it looks like I would take a 10% reduction in VPPs overall.

I also checked to see how the change would affect other regulars.

Most players playing a typical full stacked reg style were affected around the same as me, but mass tabling nits and short stackers were affected to a much greater degree.

I checkéd how the biggest nit that I know would be affected. A guy with screen name b****f**** who buys in for 30BBs and plays a 7.5/1 vpip/pfr style over 5500 hands of full ring PLO. This is a slightly losing player who has previously been making a lot from the PokerStars VIP program. He will be taking a 70% cut in VPPs with the new method. Safe to say his days of leeching off other people's rake and stinking up the games are now over. He and his obnoxious chat every time he loses a pot won't be missed by me, that's for sure.

Most of the 6-max 30BB SSPLO hit and run merchants look to be taking a significant cut. H******J*** who plays 12/7 looks to be losing around 50% of his VPPs and s***t***** who plays 23/17 style a 35% reduction.

Looking at some of the huge laggy fish that make the games juicy, some of them are getting a 300% increase in VPPs.

Going Forward

I expect with this change that most of the break-even and slightly losing nits and 30BB hit and run rats that made the games terrible will either quit or perhaps change their style, with a few of them just taking the hit and playing longer sessions to make up for their pay cut.

So while I see around a 10% reduction in VPPs for myself, I don't mind taking that hit if a lot of the mindless short stack nits who are terrible for poker are basically shot in the head. I'm likely to more than make up for my loss of VPPs though an improved winrate in better games, not just because of less short stackers and break-even nits but though the higher activity of loose losing players. Loose recreational players gaining higher VIP status (e.g. FPP multiplier) and having many more FPPs to spend on higher value bonuses, tournament tickets and satellites will be good for the games long term, as most of that value is going to end up back on the tables.

Of course. what the net effect of the change to the weighted contributed method is will likely take several months to find out. I am feeling overall positive about it but I'm prepared to eat my words if in the middle of the year I have no improvement in winrate and Im having to grind an extra hour a day to make up for the reduction in VPPs.

Whatever the result though it's hard to argue that the weighted contributed method of assigning VPPs is much fairer than the dealt method. In the past certain players have been getting way more than their fair share.

Of course there will still be a lot of negative reaction to the change from the people that are to be affected the most, the ones that have historically contributed little and taken a lot. Most people only care about their own bottom line, and of course that is perfectly natural, but changes like this are made with the bigger picture and all players in mind. The players that are hurt the most by this will be far more vocal, venting on forums about their outrage, than the many recreational players that have never even heard of twoplustwo that benefit from the change. You end up with 1% of the players making 99% of the noise.

For anyone that accuses me of bias, I'm obviously not happy about my own 10% reduction in VPPs either but I do feel like I will benefit in the long run through better games. I think that a 'winner take all' method, rather than a weighted contributed method of distributing VPPs would be way the fairest method overall, as it would still take away from nits that leech of other peoples rake in the dealt method, but reward the more active winning players more fairly. After all, the player who pays the rake is he who wins the pot.

I'm thrilled to announce that I have agreed with PokerStars to represent Team Online through to the end of 2012.

In a year where many unscrupulous companies and individuals have fallen and dragged the name of online poker down with them, PokerStars has stood tall, providing a quality of service and a level of integrity that is unrivalled in the online poker industry.

I am proud to attach my name to the PokerStars brand. The combination of World's Best Poker Site and World's Best Blogger is a match made in heaven.

I really need to set some goals for 2012 but I'm too busy grinding my ass off trying to wrap up 2011 to even think about it. After losing a week due to illness I'm now at the point where I can't take a single day off for the rest of December if I'm to hit a VPP Milestone Cash Credit.

It's tough though as I still feel very weak and I'm constantly losing my focus during sessions. It's funny, the recent interview I did with Jesse 'OnTheMac' McKenzie I really wanted to do in one take so that I wouldn't have to spend time editing it. That plan didn't work out too well for me as my mind went completely blank about 5 times during our recording. Editing was required. If I can't even focus on a short conversation with someone then god help me trying to focus during long sessions of poker.

I'm just trying to soldier on for the rest of December and then I will take my foot of the gas and switch my focus to getting fit and healthy. I decided not to travel home to Scotland for the Christmas season. The thought of travelling there and back in a cramped economy seat at the cost of $1600 + 2 days of my life, and the effects of jet-lag twice, just didn't seem worth it.

Christmas and New Year is a time of the year that most people look forward to. A time for people to be merry, have fun and spend time with their families. Then January comes around and everyone is miserable again, the hangover month. For me it's the opposite. I'm just counting the days until it is January which will be a much more enjoyable month for me.

Here in Thailand Christmas seems to be quite low-key. It is a Buddhist country with a few Christians. There's some Christmas decorations up in mostly touristy places, but they went up only recently. Compare that to back home where as soon as Halloween is over every retail outlet is sticking up the tinsel and subjecting its patrons ears to 'I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus'. Just awful.

On Sunday night there was a special $1,000,000 GTD Sunday Storm (yes, a million guaranteed for an $11 buyin tourney) as part of the The 10th Anniversary celebrations on PokerStars. There was also a 72 Billion hand promotion going on, with the 72 Billionth hand due to hit during the peak time of Sunday night. I remember checking the number of online players in the client and it was 400,000 (WHAT???????).

I also wanted to play EVhero's Sunday night home game around the time of the Sunday Storm, but the lobby wouldn't open up for me in the Home Games tab in the client. I kept clicking it out of frustration. I changed to a different tab, went back, clicked it, nothing, clicked it another few hundred times out of frustration, nothing.

So I was busy playing the Sunday Storm, some other tourneys and 14 tables of PLO, playing more tables that I would normally since this big 72,000,000,000 milestone hand was about to hit. About 30 minutes in to my session the lobby for EVhero's home game intrusively pops up from nowhere covering my tables. I noticed it was too late to register so I closed it. 5 minutes later it opened up again, what? So I closed it. A few minutes later, it popped up again. GET THE FUCK OOT EVHERO ARGHHHHHHH AKDOSFJG#$OTJ#$)TU@+)#UIT@#$))J. At that point I realised that the bastard thing was going to open up for as many times as I clicked it, which was an absolute shit-ton.


I thought that probably the only way to stop this from happening would be to restart the PokerStars client. The only problem was that I was playing tournaments, and I had some really soft cash game tables up and running. If I sit out, even for a few hands, my tables break up pretty damn quickly. No, it's not because I'm the fish, it's because most players are only playing so they can brag to their friends about how they bluffed Team Online superstar and World's Best Blogger Daleroxxu in a game of 4-card Hold Thems.

It was a solid 3 hours I had to put up with the lobby popping up over my tables, at an average of once every 5 minutes, until it stopped. Every time it happened I could see EVhero's stupid face in the top right of the lobby, grinning and sticking his tongue out at me like he knew what was happening. It's just as well I was having a winning session or I easily could have went on monkey tilt.

I'm guessing the massive number of players on the site at once was the problem. Fortunately there was no lag or any problems at all in the games, so that is the main thing. I still can't get my head around 400,000 people all playing on one poker site at the same time. Poker is HUGE.

The big promotion that is going on right now for the SNG players is the Battle of the Planets Promotion where not only are all leaderboard prizes doubled this week, but if you beat a target score you will win $10,000. This is a huge opportunity for micro stakes players. Even if you only have $30 in your account, you can play 20 $1.50 SNGs with a chance to win $10,000 if you run hot enough.

The final promotion of PokerStars 10th Anniversary will be the $10,000,000 guaranteed Sunday Million on December 18th with a guaranteed $2,000,000 prize for the winner. I have been saving up my rungood all year for this one, so good luck to you guys in finishing second.

Jesse "OnTheMac' McKenzie is an online and live poker tournament grinder who has won the PokerStars Sunday Million and finished runner up at ANZPT Adelaide in 2011.



Watch highlights of OnTheMac's Sunday Million victory on PokerStars.tv

To play in Jesse's PokerStars Home Game sign up with ID number: 560983 Code: Join_OTM

Check out OnTheMac's BLOG / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

MelowYellow: psssh
MelowYellow: we got hosed by this limey wanker

salabala: LOL
salabala: this site can fkk my ***
salabala: wta joke

slymm: do me favour pro if u got nothign fn fold
slymm: hate fn pros that delibrate when they knwo theyre folding 2min before
King Mort: its cuz he's playing many more tables
slymm: y WELL HES A FN WANKER THAT WHAT HE IS

Rovermeover: reward the brown noses
Rovermeover: up poker stars bums
sourlemur: keep whining, that often works
Rovermeover: i just laugh at the game of skill people keep spouting
sourlemur: and long as you keep laughing instead of thinking everything will be fine
Rovermeover: all these new canadians my arse
Rovermeover: all programed all rigged
sourlemur: can I ask seriously why you play here if you believe that??
Rovermeover: because it means i dont have to sit next to some smelly old bloke in a casino
sourlemur: why not spend it on hookers and blow instead?
sourlemur: i mean, this obviously isn't making you happy

alamoni: u have to admit your odds seem beeter causr of that little spade
Daleroxxu: sample size of 2 coinflips? quite the statistician

dutchpoker3: DLV´V
dutchpoker3: +´kvdfS+´
dutchpoker3: fwG´
dutchpoker3: P±VFDS
dutchpoker3: +f
dutchpoker3: fp
dutchpoker3: ´ffp
dutchpoker3: *few+
dutchpoker3: fv<
dutchpoker3: p´fewp´+
dutchpoker3: fewp´
dutchpoker3: kwfep´+
dutchpoker3: few´p+wfe+´mpfew+´KWe<*
Baedei: hes a donk
dutchpoker3: sick sick sick sick rigged cancer hooker sote
dutchpoker3: so cancer rigged as hellllllllll
dutchpoker3: kanker joden
Daleroxxu: first time ive seen a dutch guy go crazy in the chat without saying kanker to me
Daleroxxu: oh wait, he said it
dutchpoker3: lAL´MS´F+,F±f´Sd
dutchpoker3: ´fgDS+´,F´+a

Boateng: well played
GENGISKAN641: ty
Boateng: blubb blubb
GENGISKAN641: jajajajajaja

9MM4Y0U: lol
9MM4Y0U: fish xD
9MM4Y0U: seriously
9MM4Y0U: i dont understand how stars sponsors players like you
9MM4Y0U: so facking clueless lol
chess87: they just don't know better
chess87: most team pros have no clue
chess87: did u ever see donald play?
9MM4Y0U: lol nopew
9MM4Y0U: man its just too ridiculous
9MM4Y0U: i mean the guy is donking off on the 0,50/1
9MM4Y0U: pretending to be a 'pro'
9MM4Y0U: lmfao
9MM4Y0U: if he's a pro then im phil galfond

JoeIngram1: yesssss
benny1978: yessss
benny1978: better not to gloat no?
JoeIngram1: sorry u have never been excited in your life
JoeIngram1: takes alot of skill to get aces everytime i have a strong hand too, u r almost as good as daleroxxu
benny1978: a supernove elite getting excited by a 5o buck pot!
Daleroxxu: lol
JoeIngram1: i play for 28usd pot
JoeIngram1: 100usd make me **** hard
benny1978: fair enough
JoeIngram1: plus i hit ****ing quads lol
JoeIngram1: ur acting like i hit flush draw
benny1978: :)
JoeIngram1: when some girl suck your **** your probably like meh get off me, u dont get any job

DOOPAMAN: hey deleroxxu go play in heavy traffic
Daleroxxu: i live in bangkok, i do that every day
DOOPAMAN: geek
Daleroxxu: :) love you

faustballmax: arschloch
faustballmax: scheiss brite
Daleroxxu: sorry mate i don't speak german, no idea what youre saying'

WOOWELL: get some pubes dale

000_Aces_000: so hat ya spend ya fpps on?
Daleroxxu: whisky and girls
Pete Rose78: lol
000_Aces_000: gd idea

cabbageshark: ty
Daleroxxu: lol @ ty
cabbageshark: ez game
cabbageshark: any chance off a mention on twitter dale?
Daleroxxu: i already tweeted that some clown called cabbageshark beat me in a pot then typed ty
[OhotniK]ent: :D
Str8F!u$hBoy: hahaha
cabbageshark: lol

cemssen85.: who is Daleroxxu?
Tomfan666: he's a pokerstars pro i've never heard of ...
cemssen85.: Im a Millionare promoter in Germany
Daleroxxu: millionaires dont go round telling people they are millionaires

Dealer: A new game will start in 10 seconds
GotSteez?: LOL
GotSteez?: nice photo
GotSteez?: u still a virgin?

bOorg22: careful with daleroxxu
bOorg22: this is jokerstars

dhanesh192: ediot

Urrr Raise: u look bent

dinos622: daleeeee
dinos622: igneramis

Srganjova: mother****er daleroxxu
Srganjova: u think because ur from pstars u can bluff me?

smokerock247: zzzzzzzzzzz
Dealer: Regular time for player Daleroxxu has expired, TIME BANK has been activated
Drazhaar: 6 table^^
Daleroxxu: was taking a pee
smokerock247: in a piss bottle
Drazhaar: lol
Daleroxxu: no i went to the bathroom, im not an animal
smokerock247: i think u pissed urself cuz u saw me sit down
smokerock247: ;p

TheDieguinE: daleroxuu do you written a book of poker??
Daleroxxu: yes, daleroxxus guide to winning flips
TheDieguinE: you never lose in stars
TheDieguinE: you are a  pro

magicJoke656: lucky 9ay
magicJoke656: you really have a 9ay look

JoeIngram1: anohter excellent play by the champ
JoeIngram1: nh :)
Daleroxxu: thanks Joseph :)
00SKIP: lol
JoeIngram1: my mom asked me last night
JoeIngram1: who best plo50 guy u play with
JoeIngram1: i told him this guy dalerooxu
JoeIngram1: he kinda ugly but good player very advanced
Daleroxxu: my mum asked the same and I told her you
JoeIngram1: she google u
Daleroxxu: she said GTFO ss ratholers dont count
00SKIP: from uk not his fault on looks
JoeIngram1: said u ugly but probably good at poker

Sab-riveredu: what tourney did u luckbox to win

donttryit84: what means the heart?
Daleroxxu: i have the big heart
donttryit84: hehe

JD_AKAK: how did u get that spade on yr name daler
Daleroxxu: pwnin
JD_AKAK: what lol
douro200: i think he meant pownin
douro200: that spade is a poker star pro symbol
JD_AKAK: how do u get it tho
douro200: its like above supernova or whatever

rdmr: wp
rdmr: wonder how some people get red spades
rdmr: prob binking donkaments, what else


GotSteez?: you seriously gonna donk bet?
hhdr: hi my friend...
hhdr: I will play all your tables today...
GotSteez?: go ahead
GotSteez?: ill kill ur family
GotSteez?: tonight
GotSteez?: while u watch
hhdr: umad... oh yes
GotSteez?: not really
GotSteez?: u will be
GotSteez?: jsut wait

Smillie1: **** sake
Smillie1: oh u ****en piece of ****
Smillie1: ****en hell
chokkdee387: hahaha
Smillie1: wow
Smillie1: gross
win0815: puh,,,lucky
Smillie1: u reckon
Smillie1: **** sake
Smillie1: sticfk in ya ****
Smillie1: **** me
faustballmax: arschloch

JoeIngram1: dale u r so damn awkward bro
JoeIngram1: i meet u wsop next year and try to help you be more pro less noob
Daleroxxu: ty
JoeIngram1: i have bunch uk friends, they all pretty ugly and awk, prob std there
Daleroxxu: yes all bad teeth and weird accents
Daleroxxu: yet the american chicks love us
JoeIngram1: cool accent
JoeIngram1: yea american chicks love me to
JoeIngram1: keep tempting me i come there **** your girl
Daleroxxu: i live in thailand
JoeIngram1: i come **** your ladyboy there then
Daleroxxu: she is waiting
Daleroxxu: or he
Daleroxxu: dunno what is appropriate
Daleroxxu: heshe
JoeIngram1: i will **** him then he can **** me
Daleroxxu: ahaha

Mr_5LoW: pro bonus
Mr_5LoW: thats what i mean
Mr_5LoW: with pro bonus
Mr_5LoW: vry suspect

russ4u2001: d
russ4u2001: o
russ4u2001: n
russ4u2001: k
russ4u2001: pay
russ4u2001: the
russ4u2001: king
russ4u2001: donk
russ4u2001: not even english!
russ4u2001: u have air and fish it out
russ4u2001: *****
russ4u2001: breath
Daleroxxu: if you are going to be calling other people a donk then you need to buy in for more than 40 big blinds
russ4u2001: zzz
russ4u2001: a4
russ4u2001: fisher
russ4u2001: get ur rod out
russ4u2001: and go to the cananl
russ4u2001: canal
russ4u2001: call
russ4u2001:  call
russ4u2001: call
russ4u2001: get the pro
russ4u2001: there
russ4u2001: whats the point playing
russ4u2001: answer on post card
russ4u2001: not even cod
russ4u2001: FISH: a paraphyletic organism

JizzTrigger: Daleroxxu, t's your friend again
JizzTrigger: you kinda look like a teenager keanu reeves
JizzTrigger: enter the poker
JizzTrigger: starring dale

RaydeN08: dontsteal,ugly

Greekman21: fack jesus today
Greekman21: and ever y day
basje001: lol
basje001: nice call
basje001: :P
Greekman21: shut up or i fack you
Greekman21: your choice
basje001: oehh

RABBITO4LIFE: biggest low lives on the net
RABBITO4LIFE: that should be tought a hard lesson
RABBITO4LIFE: die
RABBITO4LIFE: filthy wog
RABBITO4LIFE: dieeeeeeeeeeeee
Daleroxxu: please keep chat respectful
RABBITO4LIFE: dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee
RABBITO4LIFE: filthy wog
Moderator40 [Moderator]: Please remember to keep all chat clean, friendly and respectful at the tables.
RABBITO4LIFE: fk you

Stirling38: gott limp to the red spad big blind
Daleroxxu: your limps are my antes
Stirling38: lol

Nacho737: nice flash draw
Nacho737: you idioy?
Nacho737: lucky GANDON
Daleroxxu: what is a GANDON?
Daleroxxu: is it the boss in Zelda?

piKAxpo: FAKING BING PLAYER
Daleroxxu: BINK

hbtank: thats why daleroxxy have become a successfull pstarspro he never plays a fkin hand
hbtank: thats the key i guess
*that very hand I stack him with quads vs his garbage*
Daleroxxu: hey looks like i played a hand

sep2puku: hey dude, how come you got a red spade logo?
Daleroxxu: by being awesome
sep2puku: i knew it
Razzorca1: heehee
sep2puku: that's a nice pic of your BF
Daleroxxu: yes he is very handsome

NOOOOOOOOWAY: mmmmmmmmmmm
NOOOOOOOOWAY: how and why did u keep calling there u moron
mondo nutz: sorry about unrandom bs oooooo
NOOOOOOOOWAY: u had nothing all the way
mondo nutz: yah....y i called
mondo nutz: please complain to ps...cause site isn't random
mondo nutz: they won't take my emails anymore
NOOOOOOOOWAY: u are a shocking player are u sure u should be playing these limits
mondo nutz: im 4 for 4 in pretyping gut shot predictions while on the turn
mondo nutz: im still exploring for patterns
Daleroxxu: lol
mondo nutz: got a lot of the nlhe patterns down
NOOOOOOOOWAY: ur a idiot full stop
mondo nutz: if u think so....results talke though
NOOOOOOOOWAY: and i always lose to bad players like u
mondo nutz: yah....me 2
mondo nutz: y i changed
mondo nutz: cause they reward bad play to average winnings
mondo nutz: to double their profits....
NOOOOOOOOWAY: lol u still think that was the right call dont
NOOOOOOOOWAY: u
mondo nutz: causing good players to play more often, and bad players to stick around
mondo nutz: i know it was absolutely the wrong call
mondo nutz: if the site was random
mondo nutz: or are u to dense to understand the words that i speak to you?
NOOOOOOOOWAY: lol u mug i dont know how ur playing at these stakes u should of lost ur cash along time ago playing like that
mondo nutz: no offense intended
mondo nutz: i started this site with 40$
NOOOOOOOOWAY: idiot
mondo nutz: im over 35k
mondo nutz: however u want to enterpret that...
NOOOOOOOOWAY: lol thanks to the lucky middle pin rivers not even the pros get lucky as u
12cp: daleroxxu, where in UK are you?
NOOOOOOOOWAY: dorset ur up in the highlands right
NOOOOOOOOWAY: daleroxxu could u ask me that question please ive played u a few times on here
Daleroxxu: ive to ask you a question? :S
Daleroxxu: favorite colour?
NOOOOOOOOWAY: sorry im from dorset i did say

mondo nutz: bs site
orfenz: not really mate, i just out flopped you
mondo nutz: u where actually a poker stars favorite
mondo nutz: preflop
orfenz: just UL mate
mondo nutz: no just unrandom site
orfenz: ive been UL aswell. my stack has been up and down constantly
mondo nutz: im 4 for 4 in pretyping gut shotp predictions while on the turn
mondo nutz: they double their profits by averaging winnings
mondo nutz: im trying to learn the plo patterns
mondo nutz: i can spot the nlhe patterns easier
orfenz: ask daleroxx. he's a pro. if theres something wrong with the site i think he would know
mondo nutz: won a trny last night overcalling 2 all in's late game w ten hi
orfenz: wow. thats just really lucky i guess
mondo nutz: because i spotted it a non random
orfenz: dont believe you
Daleroxxu: if u have questions about fairnes please write to gamesecurity@pokerstars.com
mondo nutz: they won't take my emails anymore...so i did my part
orfenz: are you sure mondo or hav you just been having a bad run? it happens to everybody
mondo nutz: bad run for 3 years
mondo nutz: in trnys 2
orfenz: lol stop joking mate
mondo nutz: im actually serious
Daleroxxu: do you think the moon landings didnt happen?
mondo nutz: not a conspiracy nut
mondo nutz: our country was founded on conspiracy agaoinst the crown though
orfenz: stop dude!! totally off topic
mondo nutz: but people don't think conspiracies for money and power happen though
mondo nutz: on topic of conspiracy
mondo nutz: of pokerstars
orfenz: thats what you think poker stars is...?
orfenz: a conspriacy?
mondo nutz: yah to double their profits
orfenz: yeah ok. i tired of hearing your pessimistic thoughts. Have a change of attitude. Might help with your so called 3 year bad run =]
mondo nutz: im a huge winning player...but not as much as should be
orfenz: me 2. i should be winning every hand im in regardless lol
mondo nutz: u should see my stats for non random situations
mondo nutz: non fixed i mean
mondo nutz: another horrible play rewarded
orfenz: just wasnt the flop you were looking for
orfenz: UL
mondo nutz: nothing to do with luck people
orfenz: should've checked.
orfenz: must of been obv that he had a flush draw
mondo nutz: just like the americans....blind
mondo nutz: we commit the worst crimes on the planet
orfenz: brb
mondo nutz: if people only knew
mondo nutz: i didn't vote for obama cause his brother is in the drug trade
orfenz: oh shu t it mate
mondo nutz: and he accepted kickbacks on his house that was investigated
orfenz: getting a bit o.t.t
mondo nutz: his campaign manager was convicted of fraud
mondo nutz: was just all in w/ At vs kt and i cringed
mondo nutz: knew i was doomed

orfenz: what did you have to do to become a pro?
FincaResalso: depends )))
orfenz: if have 10k bankroll do you become a pro?
orfenz: hey dale. are there certain conditions you have to meet?
Daleroxxu: marry the owners daughter
FincaResalso: bravo )))
FincaResalso: I'm too old (((
orfenz: =]

godie707: biitch}}poker satrs help you baastard

Speck ftw: ACE OF CLUBS
SzurtosPeti: áááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááá
den hurtige: lo
Speck ftw: flash with clubs
Speck ftw: I HAD ONCE A ROYAL FLASH

T2011090057 No Limit Omaha H-L $200 + $15.txt
tiaaago: daleroxxu can you help me ?
Daleroxxu: what's wrong?
tiaaago: i acidentaly registered into this tournament !
Daleroxxu: sigh
Daleroxxu: the moderators are only for chat issues
tiaaago: what can i do daleroxxu help me please
Daleroxxu: contact support with URGENT in the title

climafreak: Daleroxxu all the game you are on is ONE BIG CRIMEGAMES
Daleroxxu: thanks for letting me know
climafreak: strange very strange I NEVER GET CARDS TO USE, ARE YOU A HACKER FROM POKERSTARS
climafreak: BUT NO MATTER THIS DOWNLOAD IS ONE BIG CRIMESITE OF POKERSTARS
climafreak: 6 HOURS NOW LOST HUNDRED OF DOLLARS ON THIS ****ING CRIME
climafreak: WILL RAPPORT THIS TO FBI
climafreak: BOTSGAME
climafreak: REALY UNDERSTAND WHY NORTON SECURITY TELLS ME, THERE IS ONLY FEW WHO HAVE DOWNLOADED THIS POKERSTARS PROGRAM
climafreak: SURE MY FLUSHHAND AGAIN IS NOTHING
climafreak: AND AGAIN NOTHING
climafreak: WOW 80 DOLLARS PLAY AND GET NOTHING
climafreak: ONLY CRIME IN HERE
climafreak: NO NOT 80 DOLLARS, BUT 130 DOLLARS DEPOSIT WITH ONLY CRIMEGAME
climafreak: AND YOU ALSO PLACE HOW MUCH I CAN RAISE
climafreak: SMART
climafreak: ALL IS CRIME
climafreak: AND LOOSE MY MONEY IN ALL GAMES TO BOTS CRIME PLAYERS WHO POKERSTARS GET TO THE TABLES
climafreak: such a crime
climafreak: my god
climafreak: such rigged table
climafreak: Daleroxxu such a bull.**** to show here
climafreak: THIS IS ONE BIG CRIME DOWNLOAD POKERSTARS HAVE DONE TO MY COMPUTER
climafreak: YOU ARE SOME ****ING CRIMERS
climafreak: AHHH AGAIN MY AT BLACK FLUSHCARDS IS NOTHING
climafreak: SMART
climafreak: REALY SMART
climafreak: NOW THIS HAVE BEEN GOING FOR 6 HOURS
climafreak: ON MANY TABLES
climafreak: REALY SMART
climafreak: WAY TO STEAL MY MONEY
climafreak: FINE THANKS
climafreak: I WANT TO PLACE AN AUTOPILOT
climafreak: AS YOU DO, BECAUSE THIS IS TOOOOOO MUCH ****ING CRIME
climafreak: SMART FOLD BEFORE RIVER
climafreak: SO WE CANT SEE THE RIVER
climafreak: THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE TO PLAY FREE POKER GAMES AND POKERSTARS USING 100 OF DOLLARS, FANTASTIC SO ****ING FANTASTIC CRIME WHO THE SITE ALLOW

MaltedMilk11 [observer]: Dale, how come you dont play MTTs?
Daleroxxu: coz i have a life
MaltedMilk11 [observer]: haha good lad

Chenaab: nice blog oxxu

somesoul: pwned red pro JAJAJAAA

viejasandra1: nooooooooooooooooooo
viejasandra1: what happend fuc.k site
viejasandra1: daleroxxuu beautifull you site

marcusjj4: pokerstars donk noob
Daleroxxu: nice insult, you're very smart
marcusjj4: thay call u a staar go play bingo
Daleroxxu: ok i will go play bingo
Daleroxxu: with your mama
Daleroxxu: :)
marcusjj4: i gonna report u bicous u talk aubout mij mom
Daleroxxu: ok tell them i said hi
marcusjj4: ugly ****

$weetN$a$$y: hey Date philip they should call u donk philip

Fishtripp: u pro??? riiight in my fkin ***
Fishtripp: just one fkin pathetic fatty who win one tournament
Daleroxxu: thats right
Daleroxxu: :) so good
Fishtripp: not a suprise rly
Fishtripp: 18 years old fatty *** who win one tournament and thinks he is the best in the wordl :D
Fishtripp: **** ur pathetic
Fishtripp: back to kindergaren fatty boy
Daleroxxu: do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

Emil Anton: fcking call from pro
Emil Anton: idiot
Daleroxxu: thanks for the feedback
Emil Anton: gay

-Elric Aro-: haha...so fff****ing ba
-Elric Aro-: bluffing against 2 players in omaha
Daleroxxu: wasnt a bluff DUCY?
-Elric Aro-: then what was it fff face? flushdraw and straightdraw on the board and you bet
-Elric Aro-: note made
Daleroxxu: keep making notes
-Elric Aro-: ugly is one of them

I am back in Bangkok and back to running like a 3 legged dog at poker and life.

On Saturday night the Thais decided to poison me once again through their absolutely atrocious food hygiene. I ate somewhere just before they closed and now I am pretty sure that they reheated some shrimp that was already contaminated with super bacteria. The dirty, evil, bastards.

After 10 hours of what I will only describe as "hell" (trust me, you don't want a more accurate description) I called out a doctor who jabbed me in the ass with some needles and then sent me to hospital as I was extremely dehydrated and had a dangerously high body temperature.


It was scary for the first couple of days as despite all the fluids, antibiotics and fever reducing drugs constantly being fed into me intravenously I still felt like I was dying. They were constantly doing tests on me saying that they were worried about kidney failure as I hadn't pissed at all, until the fourth day when I was pissing like a race horse, 7 god damn litres. Thanks to that I was discharged on the fifth day.

I'm now back in my condo, feeling really weak and just not myself. My appetite hasn't returned at all. I used to get so much pleasure out of delicious food. Now any time I even think about food I wanna puke.

After being crippled by the medical bill I have to use my one time and hope my travel insurance pays out, which is far from a given. I've been reading through all the small print and there's lots of stuff in there they probably use to screw people out of money. The most worrying to me is that only the first 17 days of any trip is covered. I can't figure out if the fact that I visited Malaysia a couple of weeks ago and then came back to Bangkok makes this a "new trip" according to them.

Insurance is such a terrible -EV bet and even when you "win" they try to screw you out of it. It's like playing poker as the only fish at a table of sharks, who not only have a massive edge over you but scam and angle-shoot the crap out of you into the bargain.

It was probably a mistake to jump right back into playing poker but after losing so many days, and needing to hit my milestone before the year ends, I decided I couldn't waste any more time. I lost 9 buyins at PLO and 16 buyins at CAP NLHE. Basically just fuck my whole, entire, life.

I've started playing CAP recently and have lost 0.85BB/100 over 16,000 hands. The games seem to be completely filled with regulars with not many soft spots. I think because CAP is so simple to play that any competent reg can play a large number of tables, while the fish still only really play 1 or 2 tables at a time.

I'm not sure that the games are beatable before VIP club bonuses (although certainly beatable with VIP club) around the 0.50/1 - 1/2 level because of the toughness of the games and how much is raked. I'd guess they are beatable straight-up at lower stakes because of easier games and beatable at higher stakes (2/4 - 3/6 +) by a great player because less is raked proportionally.

Team PokerStars Online have released a short firm about Talonchick. If you haven't watched it yet then do it right now:



It's great to see someone being very successful though poker and still living a "normal" and healthy life. Apparently you CAN have your cake and eat it - Talonchick proves it!

The 10th Anniversary Promotion at PokerStars just keeps getting better and better. The latest promotion is 10 days of Ring Game VPP leaderboards, with a new leaderboard every day you can win up to an extra $3000 if you have with it takes to grind harder than anyone else. That's exactly what ultimate grinder, Team Online's WizardOfAhhs did a couple of days ago when he won the high leaderboard.

I'm looking forward to playing my part in breaking a world record on December 4th when the PokerStars World Record tournament takes place. With a buyin of only $1 and a guarantee of $250,000 it looks like the target has been set for 250,000 players. I still can't get my head around the thought of a quarter of a million people playing one poker tournament, it seems impossible. First prize is $50,000 and whoever manages to best such a massive field can more than say they deserve it. My money is on Bommel222.

I am now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I'm not here by choice, but because the Thai immigration system is a huge pain in my white Scottish arse. I'm here to apply for a double entry tourist visa at the Royal Thai Embassy that will allow me to stay in Thailand through to next year.

When I got to the embassy first thing this morning there was a big sign that warned that they were now refusing tourist visas to people who continuously leave and re-enter Thailand via it's neighbouring countries, as people are abusing it in order to work illegally in Thailand.

Given that, and the fact that I have 7 entry stamps into Thailand this year I'm not super confident that my visa application will get approved. In my favour I have visited 12 other countries this year, some more than once, and made my application with a note saying that I am travelling around Asia for a year and using Thailand as my base.

Fingers crossed, I will find out if I get the visa tomorrow. If not I will try to fly back into Bangkok and hopefully they let me through with another 30 day stamp. Enough time for the floods to clear up and I can take the agency run visa bus trip to Cambodia where the agents grease the officials palms enough that nobody gets refused a visa.


Right now I'm staying in a nice hotel next to Low Yat Plaza on the top floor with a sick view. I have set up a grind station using the hotel TV as a monitor in-front of the window looking towards the Petronas Towers. A nice view is very un-tilting indeed, and preventing tilt is very important when you are playing poker on a hotel internet connection that is for damn sure.

Today was fun. A guy who looked like a Malaysian Snoop Dogg let me play with his snake (ooo err missus) for the bargain price of 10 RM (2 GBP).


I then went to a Shipwreck Treasures exhibition. They had tons of the stuff from 13 different wrecks recovered from Malaysian waters. One of them being a Chinese ship from the Song Dynasty (1000 years ago). It was a good way to spend half an hour for the bargain price of 8 RM (1.60 GBP).


I then visited the National Museum, for the also bargainous price of 5 RM (1 GBP). A lot of museums I've been to have been pretty boring, the main exceptions being the national museum in Cairo and the war museum in Saigon. The Malaysian National museum is quite small compared to other museums but this is a good thing, as there is no "filler". Everything is worth seeing and I was overall impressed by it.


I especially liked the weapons and armour. I'd stand there in-front of them daydreaming, imagining myself wearing the armour and using the swords in battle.


After I spent 45 minutes in the museum I was about to leave when it just absolutely lashed down with rain as hard as you can possibly imagine. Thunder, lightning, the full shebang. I decided to walk around the museum again and 45 minutes later it was STILL hammering it down cat's and dogs. I then saw everything in the museum for a THIRD time, making me now one of the world's foremost experts on Malaysian history, before the rain turned into just a drizzle and I could leave.

I decided to spend the rest of the day doing a Segway tour around Lake Gardens Park which is a 230 acre, awesome, lush, impeccably maintained park in the city. I have taken a Segway tour before, in Prague (see Prague trip report), and it was a great way to cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time without getting tired.


This Segway tour also turned out to be a winner. The gardens are amazing. Fresh air and relaxation, what a great way to spend an afternoon.


Tomorrow I am going for dinner with Jeremy McDonald and his friends who are pro poker players that live here in KL. And if all goes to plan and I get my visa tomorrow afternoon I will fly back to Thailand on the last flight back tomorrow night, fingers crossed!