Grant's Glasgow Banter

[Santino67]

I've never really been one for spending much time writing but decided it was time to share, listen, learn and basically have a laugh at what poker and life throws at us.

Brief history of playing from about 5 years ago, playing very rare tournaments at a friendly wee place in Glasgow, namely The Cincinatti Club. This then resulted in opening up a Betfair account with an initial bankroll of £50, mainly to play more often and to try my hand at affordable cash games. I started at the bottom levels of 2 c/4c and basically moved up through the levels to a point where I was regularly on 25c/50c 9 seaters. Incredibly that £50 has gone a long long way, contributing to holiday spending over the past few years for Florida, Australia, Hong Kong and Toronto and currently sits at $2115.

..........then there's my live play. I returned to the live scene in Glasgow by visiting the Gala Casino one night to play in a £30 MTT, played really well for a minor novice, made a couple of hundred quid, and was encouraged to attend the APAT Scottish qualifier in Edinburgh by Billy Leishman (Billyho).

So there I was a few days later, nervous as hell to be honest, mulling around and chatting to all these new folk at the Maybury in Edinburgh and then it was time to shuffle up and deal! Other than one particularly great tough call i made it was pretty much a blur but a few hours later I found myself with a damn nice chip lead at the final table with 8 others and thankfully made it down to the required 7 for a seat at the Scottish final.



Think it's safe to say that from that day onwards poker has become my second (non human) love, only slightly behind my love of all things music, gigs and festivals!

Update - Thanks to Ger Smyth for info about adding pics - That's me in seat 1 next to dealer with Neil 'luckybugur' Dawson on my left and Mickey 'jacklevel' Paterson in seat 4. Kenny 'The Kiid' McKenzie is further to the back in seat 8. No doubt we'll discuss these guys further as the blog progresses, as I've become fortunate to spend more time with them (and others among you) in the 3 years since.

[Swinebag22]

nice one Grant

keep em coming

[duke3016]

  can't wait for the drunk and disorderly and being told to be quiet in the Vic.......

[Santino67]

can't wait for the drunk and disorderly and being told to be quiet in the Vic.......

Yeah Ger think by my 3rd APAT I wasn't quite as shy and nervous at that point, don't remeber there being alcohol involved lol

[duke3016]

I wasn't quite as shy and nervous at that point

WTF

[Santino67]

I wasn't quite as shy and nervous at that point

WTF

Cheers Ger for the advice about adding photos. Added my first last night to the very first post on the thread with a wee note.

[jacklevel06]

No further disscusions about me please.Mrs P reads the forum.

[Chipaccrual]

That photo can't be for real.

Most of you look about 12, and Micky P hasn't got a drink in his hand.   

[pables]

I look forward to this blog as it progresses

GL Grant

Ian

[Santino67]

That photo can't be for real.

Most of you look about 12, and Micky P hasn't got a drink in his hand.   

I'm sure that was an APAT approved pic Leigh, and I can assure you Mickey P's table (it's behind him, yeah it's panto season  ) was laden with beer glasses, mainly empty of course.

Now in the run up to that particular game, I had the great pleasure of getting to the final 3 at a MTT in the Cincinatti Club in Glasgow, and further pleasure being knocked out by a certain Miss Bronwyn Campbell. Some may know her as ex girlfriend of Rangers goalie Allan McGregor, but she's also a fine poker player, finishing 4th in the Women's World Open the following year. Now there is a damn fine point to mentioning this, as after the event she commended me on my overall play, then proceeded to give me one single tip about playing against a woman (won't divulge this for obvious reasons).

During that first APAT qualifier above, cruising along quite nicely with about 40k chips and down to 2 tables, a hand came along that provided me with some dilemma. I was dealt  ah  in my BB with blinds at 600/1200, folded round to late position then raised by a very attractive blonde girl, fold fold fold and i flat called to peel off a flop. Flop came A/2/4 rainbow and i checked to her, she almost insta shoved for about 15k more. Now this is where the initial thread post mentions my great tough call that i made. On one hand i could cruise down to the final table with my stack and  try to gain my seat for the Scottish National, the other side of the coin is that i hate that style of play and would rather go down in a blaze of glory and give myself a better chip stack to win tournaments (I'm very very keen to hear other APAT'ers opinions about this, always hungry to learn and get advice about my game).

So I decided to attempt to gain more info by chatting to the opponent and remember saying to her 'It's just a matter of how big your ace is really'. At this point she gave me the sign that Bronwyn Campbell had tipped me about so i called and she flipped over A5. Unfortunately for her she got no 3 or 5 on the turn or river and I then took a commanding chip lead 

[lukybugur]

Reading this with interest Grant. Hope u decide to come to Lloret, it would be good to catch up with you. You can leave your car at mine to save a few pennies.

[Santino67]

So fast forward 2 and a bit years (we'll discuss Dublin and London 2008 soon I promise Ger lol) and I'm back in the APAT fold at the fabulous G Casino in Coventry and loving it. I can only express my feeling of winning my satellite to get there as being a joyous moment, I'd missed these events so much since my last APAT at The Vic in 2008. Hard to put your finger on any one reason for this, but the people I’d met at my 3 events in 2008 definitely make the tournaments very welcoming and enjoyable experiences, regardless of winning or losing. Live poker is far far far more enjoyable than online play (one man’s opinion), but the APAT events seem to be another entity altogether.

Reasons for my disappearance since The Vic were mainly due to illness in the form of IBS and diagnosed eventually gall stones, resulting in pain the likes of which I could only compare to having to sit through a full series of The X Factor whilst simultaneously having your teeth removed by an unqualified dentist with no anaesthetic. Thankfully after 18 long months of suffering I got the damn gall bladder removed in June and all’s well again. There was also the small matter of trips to Florida, Lake District, Australia and Hong Kong using up all my annual leave for the remainder of 2008/09, and a trip to Toronto after my gall bladder op a few months before Coventry. My travel exploits I’ll share at a later date for anyone wishing to know more but include some of the following highlights............

Florida Universal Studios


Florida Hard Rock Cafe


Lake District with Anne


Lake District with Tikay lol


Melbourne Crown Casino


Feeding Kangaroo & Joey


Best of all, the majority of this was gained because I love playing poker and alleviating other peoples' chips from them 

[duke3016]

My travel exploits I’ll share at a later date for anyone wishing to know more

Please do - looking forward to it.

[Eck]

Whatever happened to Billyho? I remember sitting next to him and sure Ger was on that table too at the Maybury. Didn't he join the fire brigade or something?

[Santino67]

Whatever happened to Billyho? I remember sitting next to him and sure Ger was on that table too at the Maybury. Didn't he join the fire brigade or something?

Yeah Eck. he's now a fully fledged ladder climber and unfortunately his shifts don't accomodate for the hours required at the tables. I actually knew Billy previously as I worked with his girlfriend Sharon for many years, so still bump into him at other events, parties, weddings etc ( I fear more pics will appear from these at some point, but here's to the big guy who introduced me to APAT)




His lovely girlfriend Sharon G on the left with me and our other ex-colleague Sharon H


Team Gala Merchant at Dublin 2008