Listen to my radio station!

So I was a bit bored and decided to launch my own internet radio station.

Scooter Radio is perfect to help you pass the time at the internet poker tables.

Listen here for free!

The title may give you a clue as to the musical taste of the station.

Shark attack in the Mediterranean

When chief Brody, the I-told-you-so policeman in Jaws, said "you're going to need a bigger boat", the MSC Poesia would have done nicely. The floating hotel, with an amazing 1,000 staff on board, could withstand any finned attack, but I did not account for the sharks on board for the PartyPoker Million VI cruise.

I basically got chewed up on the cash tables during the week, and went to bed at night lamenting "you're going to need a bigger bankroll". I certainly did not play badly, and I was ahead most times the money went in: K-K caught up by two pair, A-A tripped up by Q-Q, set ran into rivered over-set etc. It was just a nasty run, but that's what this game is about and I'll no doubt benefit from the other side of the coin soon. Thankfully for the past 12 months I have employed sensible bankroll management and can soak up the downswing.

Because I was working on the cruise - reporting on the tournament for our PartyPoker Blog - I could not devote enough time to making my losses back, so there are some folks out there still with some of my money. As they're our players, I am very happy for them!

We sailed from Venice to Bari, in southern Italy, across to Greece, then two stops in Turkey before turning around for Dubrovnik in Croatia and back to Venice for a tortuous 12-hour journey home to Blighty.

In between, the tournament was played out and won by Germany's Alexander Jung, who pocketed about $350,000 for his week's work - not a bad return!


The tournament was a great success, being nicely structured and run expertly by Matt Savage and his team. Having a makeshift card room set up in a beautiful room on the seventh deck, with views of the sea rolling by is sublime.

My reporting duties were not helped by a rubbish and expensive internet connection, which meant I had to watch every hand then disappear in tournament breaks and at the end of the day to my cabin to write up and file as it was the only place I could get a connection. It meant my days were far longer than they should have been.

Internet and cash game woes were put into perspective during the stop off in Dubrovnik. To think this place was at war just 15 years ago is an eye-opener, and you can still see the scars as bullet holes mark nearly every building in the walled city.


The emotional scars cut deeper, of course, and the remembrance room, dedicated to the hundreds of young "Dubrovnik Defenders" who died at the hands of the invading Serbs in the years after 1991, is a must visit. Pictures of the young men who died adorn the walls, and it brings modern warfare home. No more black and white images of World War Two, this was up-to-date horror on the very streets I was treading.

I managed about four hours in Dubrovnik - I'll deffo be back under my own steam at some point - the longest I spent off the boat. I only lasted an hour in Istanbul before becoming peed off with the street hawkers.


Back on board and our party of players, family, friends and staff made up about 400 of the ship's total passengers. The rest seemed to be elderly French people on holiday. You've got to love the French pensioners and their interesting interpretation of queuing.

I started the week in an inside cabin - not ideal, especially as I was having to spend so much time in it writing - but then after two days was relieved to be moved to an outside cabin, with large port hole. Alas! My dreams of beautiful, relaxing views were dashed when I realised I was next to a huge lifeboat!


I eventually got home late on Saturday night, absolutely knackered, to be honest. It had been a great trip, however, and a superb tournament to report on. All I need to do now is try and fix myself up for Vegas.

Good luck at the tables, folks. And remember, it is safe to swim in the sea: Shark attacks are rare.

Hello, sailor: I'm going cruising

Ahoy, me hearties. I'm setting sail for the PartyPoker Million VI cruise, where 165 or so players will be fighting it out for more than $1.2 million.

Sadly I won't be playing. Instead I'll be working, writing up stuff for the PartyPoker Blog and hosting our star online players who won their seats in a variety of qualifiers.

I'm really looking forward to it, to be honest. I hate the winter and the wind, rain and dark days and am desperate for some sun. And while I'll be holed up in the ship's card room for most of each day, there will be time for some essential R&R.

We seat sail from Venice on Saturday and tour the Med, stopping off at Dubrovnik in Croatia, Izmir and Istanbul in Turkey, Olympia in Greece and Bari in Italy, before heading home the following Saturday. Phew!

It'll be hard work but a bit of a blast. If you know anyone playing, let me know and I'll try and give them a plug.

Stay tuned: subscribe to my blog here.

Online poker not doomed

Those of you who enjoyed the iconic TV program Dad's Army will be familiar with the character Private Frazer. It is the dour Scotsman, you will recall, who repeats pessimistically "We're doomed" at every opportunity as the clowns of the Home Guard, armed with no more than pitchforks and Dolly's cucumber sandwiches, prepare to defend England from the might of the German war machine. God help us if Adolf had actually decided to pop over.

Modern life is full of Frazers; those who are not happy unless they are moaning about something or, more likely, everything. To be honest, most of them pass me by because I'm a happy little fish.

But if there's one thing that gets up my nose (and I don't do drugs) it's the Frazers of the poker world. "We're doomed. The poker boom is over. Player numbers will fall, games will get tougher, money will drop, it's the end. We're doomed, doomed I tell ya."

Poppycock!

Player numbers online have never been greater and show no sign of stagnating; prize pools for online tournaments are increasing rapidly; the number of fishy players willing to donk off their chips shows no sign of falling; games are not getting harder; and online events like the European Poker Tour continue to rocket in popularity.

OK, I'll declare an interest - I work in the online poker business - but any outsider with half a brain would agree with me. The UIGEA bill in the US was a blow, yes, forcing some sites to withdraw back across the pond, but what it has done is focus attention on new possibilities.

While some operators remain to exploit the monies in the US, so others have cast their nets elsewhere, moving eastwards throughout Europe, for example, to introduce new players to the game. Sites have also made games more attractive and been more innovative in offering existing and new players value for money like never before.

No one has even scratched the surface of Asia and the Pacific region yet (Oz and New Zealand aide), while Africa remains largely untapped. South America will also grow in importance.

So, in the words Corporal Jones, left, another Dad's Army character: "Don't panic." You'll be able to enjoy your favourite online poker games for years to come.




Your thoughts?

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Be proud, be English, be eating fish

Happy St George's Day. That is all.