News : HID John Tabatabai

Chicken, Chess and Crushing Regs!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:38:12 +0000

I've put my chicken chorizo and sweet potato in the oven so I have about 15 minutes left before that is ready so I better get typing because I am not missing it for the world, plus I am heading out for the night so time is scarce right now.

I Will Punish The HUD Users!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:03:36 +0000

Happy New Year to all my faithful readers and listeners I hope you all had a really enjoyable Christmas and New Year celebrations. As I wrote in my previous update I spent the Christmas back at home in Cardiff and it was surprisingly and relatively nag free!

John Tabatabai: My Highlights and Low Points of 2011

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:32:38 +0000

I am back on home soil after a trip to Las Vegas that can only really be described as messy! It was just a real mess. Good fun but a mess! Everyone who was in our group showed the world the new style of aggressive partying, much like when three-betting light became popular in online poker, that's how we approached our partying.

Broken PCs, Shaving and Vegas!

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:53:22 +0000

I thought it was about to update this blog so here I am typing away at the airport whilst I wait to board my flight to Las Vegas! I am looking forward to better weather, plenty of parties and clubs and of course playing poker.

Truffles And My Caterpillar 'Tache!

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:24:44 +0000

Although I had planned to be able to fill this week's blog with lots of poker related stories I have not really played enough over the past seven days to warrant that to be honest, thanks in part to having lots of visitors over at my place that I had to entertain including my good friend Antonio Esfandiari.

MasterChef, Moustaches and Increased Listeners!

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:58:15 +0000

First of all a big thank you to everyone who has been listening into my radio broadcast on Wednesday nights, last week I had over 250 listeners, which was fantastic, really good. Let's see if this week's has beaten that, especially because I had a lovely lady guest with me!

Mung Beans, Lightbulbs and €1,000 Shoes

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:00:58 +0000

The World Series of Poker Europe festival is over and I am back in London and things have not really been going to plan. To say I have been tilting today is an understatement, thanks mainly to the entity that is Sainsbury's!

WSOPE Main Event, Ring of Fire and Old Men's Games

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:38:51 +0000

Hello again! I forgot to mention in my previous post that I actually played in the Omaha event but it turned out to be a really bad idea. I had been drinking all night so turned up about two hours late then got my chips in with top set against the flopped straight of Johnny Chan, so I was there for literally half an hour, thankfully I lasted a little longer in the Main Event.

Betfair Live Dublin and my WSOPE Walk of Tilt

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:11:37 +0000

The observant amongst you will notice that because I am writing this blog right now, it means I am not in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event so the the hunt for a bracelet is over for another year. Despite the poker being extremely tilting for me I am enjoying it in Cannes, though being here does mean I will unfortunately miss this week's Kunku Wap Ambassador Challenge due to the French regulations for online poker.

A Big Online Win and the Kunku Wap Ambassador Challenge

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:04:07 +0000

I am writing this blog as a newly crowned WCOOP Champion, after winning Event #43, the $320 rebuy Pot Limit Omaha tournament, despite not even knowing anything about Omaha! The funny thing is I wasn't even going to play in it because I wasn't that confident in playing in a rebuy as I don't play Omaha enough, but my buddy said he'd take my action so I was freerolling! A few hours later and I win it for $102,543!

Late Night Poker, Heads Up and Hot dogs!

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:42:12 +0000

I have had an eventful few days with me playing on Late Night Poker in Cardiff and sitting on 30 different tables trying to get someone to play me at heads-up, oh and researching into and eating a lot of hot dogs, more on that later!

Jet lag, Partying and Painful Poker

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:41:59 +0000

I've been in Las Vegas for three days now, well I think it is three days because in Vegas you never leave your hotel, don't get to see any sunlight and there are no clocks anywhere! The first day I was badly jet-lagged, in fact I think I still am, so I just crashed and didn't do anything exciting to be honest.

Yesterday was a completely different story though as I first went to the Ongame party at Madame Tussauds, which is always good fun and in the evening I went to the Betfair Poker party at Surrender nightclub, which was amazing. Surrender, in my opinion, is one of the best nightclubs in the world and it is certainly my favourite that I have seen. It's so hard to describe, when you walk in you've got a beautiful nightclub and as you progress through it you eventually finish up in an outside section that has bungalows and terraces all around, an outdoor casino and a second floor with more bungalows on it.

It's just so huge and there are people everywhere and there is just this amazing, electric atmosphere. We had our own bungalow,which had its own swimming pool, shower, toilet and private space for at least 40 people. It was a really cool night and I got to meet a lot of Betfair Poker regulars who I have played against a lot recently. I got there about 2300 and stayed all the way through until the club closed at around 0430 and then I went onto an after party until about 0730 so I am still recovering! At the party Antonio Esfandiari showed up, as did Phil "Unabomber" Laak who was drowning his sorrows after becoming the first player to bust out of the $50k that night and in terms of eye candy the beautiful Holly Madison was there, which was a pleasant surprise. I guess that's how Betfair rolls!

I've managed to fit in a couple of hours worth of cash games here at the Venetian but it is so slow! Here I'm playing $5/$10, which is higher than I have been doing recently online but on Betfair Poker I play at least 10 tables and see thousands of hands per hour, here I'm lucky to see 20, it is so painful. There is a mixture of younger players playing what I'd call an internet style, older players and their own weird style and then random idiots with no style at all. Overall the games are playing tighter than I remember but the general standard of player is still poor.

Tournament wise I'm thinking of playing in a nice deep-stacked tournament in the Venetian today and then I'll be going to the Rio on July 5 for WSOP Event #56, the $1,500 and then it will be the Main Event. I'll try and fit in a couple of blogs between now and the Main Event and hopefully they'll be full of stories of me destroying the cash games!

Join John on Betfair Poker Now

Happy to be running bad!

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:37:53 +0000

It seems like everyone is winning a World Series of Poker bracelet at the moment and I have been asked numerous times over the past couple of weeks why I haven't won one myself. The answer is simple, because I haven't played in any events yet!

Taking down the Vienna High Roller Event

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:05:19 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I received a pleasant phone call from Mr Betfair who cordially invited me to play the Betfair Live tournament in Vienna. Naturally I was very excited to go to a beautiful city, a place where I have had many interesting and fun experiences in the past.

Blackpool GUKPT and my ace on the river

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:22:44 +0000

It had to happen, it was inevitable but I never thought the day would ever emerge where I really had to leave London and travel north. Yes, by north I do mean past Notting Hill.