Firstly a ‘hooray’ to all those who came along. It was an excellent night and everyone seemed to really enjoy the poker, the company and of course the booze.

Now for a ‘boo’ to all those who didn’t turn up and didn’t bother to tell us. There are always a few who legitimately can’t make it at the last minute, but there were some 20 people who subscribed, didn’t turn up and didn’t bother letting us know (you know who you are). There were a lot of people I turned down entry to purely because we were over subscribed and more still on the standby list who really wanted to attend. Can I remind those who didn’t turn up and didn’t tell us, to show some consideration for others who would gladly take your place. In the future please let us know if you cannot attend. It only takes a quick email or a phone call.

So, on to the night. Well I started off well, winning a few carefully selected hands. Andy Hood was always drumming in to me that with so many beginners you have to play conservatively, don’t try to bluff and only represent the hands you actually have because beginners will bet on anything. I remembered this and started to pick up some chips. I was even smart enough to fold a pair of Aces on the turn when I read that the other player had a full house. One of the beginners was Drew (he runs the Adobe Flex London User Group). Having flopped quad Jacks in one hand and then quad Kings in the next he declared that he didn’t know what all the fuss was about winning a simple hand of poker. On his next hand I put him on a low pair on the flop, though his belligerent betting suggested otherwise. With a K+A in my hand and nothing on the flop I decided to bet hard and push him off the pot and I raised 1000 on the turn. That was my mistake. I knew I might get a K or an A on the river (not very likely as the river hates me) but I figured that betting hard against a novice with a stack of chips the size of a border collie would be enough to scare him off my bluff…you can see my mistake now can’t you. Oblivious to any unwritten rules, etiquette, statistics, game play or common sense, he went all in. Needless to say, I compounded my error by calling only to find out that I was right, he’d flopped a pair of 8s, the lowest pair on the table, but still better than my big fat A+K nothing. Damn my risk bias disposition and my insane need to try to bluff beginners!

So, the winners of last night’s toury were:

1. Karl Bunyan

2. Katie Marcus (special mention as this was her first PokerCoder)

3. Paras Sheth

4. Alejandro Giraldo Nino

5. Robin Harrison

6. Kim Holland

7. Cinderella (you left the ball without giving me your name) - No prize for you then

8. Tom Vian

9. Oleg Filipchuk

10. Sebastian Kassier

Yep, PokerCoder 8 is coming. Registration is now open. To be the first to hear announcements on the tournaments keep an eye on the PokerCoder twitter feed. Hurry, hurry, hurry, we sold out in about 5 days last time. #pokercoder

Roll up, roll up. The log awaited Adobe sponsored London Poker Tournament, PokerCoder 7, is finally here and this time we’ve got a couple of special extras for you. The event is in 3 weeks time on Tuesday February 9th at our regular venue the Loose Cannon Poker Club in EC4. A short walk from Canon Street and Bank tube stations. Places are limited so be quick. Read more

Ok, so obviously there are problems with sending out a bulk email to over 400 members which has the word “POKER” in the title. This leads to all sorts of ISP spam alarms and local firewall filters firing off, not to mention that your email client often sticks your advanced event registration notification straight in your junk folder, even if you do receive it. We are working on a solution but this is not straight forward. In the mean time if you follow us on Twitter you will be told without fail as soon as you should have received such things, so please, please follow us.

Another problem seems to exist: People do receive their advanced members registration notification. They click “yes” to confirm their attendance (presumably they see the CONFIRMATION page afterwards - if not, please let us know) and then we DON’T see their entry appearing in our database. So, I’m going to publish a list of names of those attending, which I will update daily. I think this will be a useful piece of transparency, as if you have clicked that you will be attending and you do not see your name, you can notify us and we can trouble shoot the problem AND put you back on the list.

Final list:

1. abe azam
2. AJ Silvers
3. Ajeet Dyondi
4. Alam Gill
5. alan jeeves
6. Alasdair McLeay
7. Alejandro Giraldo
8. Andrea Ottolina
9. andrew coates
10. Andrew Porter
11. Andrew Shorten
12. Andy Bryant
13. Andy Hayes
14. Andy Smith
15. Anthony McCormick
16. Antonio De Donatis
17. Attila Miklosi
18. Badr Luqman
19. Barry Shaw
20. Ben Doran
21. Ben Goode
22. Braam Genis
23. Byron Manley
24. Carlos Roman
25. charlene higgins
26. Chris Ellis
27. Chris Linseman
28. Christopher William Sees
29. Colin Miller
30. Daniel Love
31. daniel mountford
32. Daniel Tenner
33. Daniel Wood
34. Danny Burnside
35. Darren Brown
36. Darren Cronin
37. David Burrows
38. David Caygill
39. David Fowkes
40. Demian Braithwaite
41. Divesh Premdeep
42. Dominic Crowhurst
43. Dominic McAdden
44. eamonn faherty
45. Elin Sjursen
46. Emma Wilkinson
47. Ernesto Quezada
48. Etienne Mercuriali
49. Filippo Angelini
50. George Bridgeman
51. George Medve
52. Gishantha de Silva
53. Greg Fleming
54. hamza ahmad
55. Iain Lobb
56. Irvin Suntokee
57. Jamie Badman
58. Jens Meijer
59. Jeremy Adrian Quinton
60. Jethro Grassie
61. Jo Pearce
62. Joe Lister
63. John Cotterell
64. John Davies
65. john racle
66. Jolyon Russ
67. Jonathan Craig
68. Karim Salah
69. Karl Bunyan
70. Kevin Bahadoor
71. Kelvin Luck
72. Kevin Robertson
73. Kim Holland
74. Kirna Koria
75. Liz Myers
76. Leon Mills
77. Louis Biggs
78. Mark Dooney
79. Mark Stanley
80. Martin Burke
81. Matthew Don
82. Mathieu Labey
83. Matt Conn
84. Matt Cooper
85. Matt Sutherland
86. Matthew Press
87. Michael Hayes
88. Michael Potts
89. Miguel Sanchez
90. Mikko Tormala
91. Mitesh Jadav
92. Neil Bennett
93. Neil Duggan
94. Niall McCormack
95. Nick Gerig
96. Nick Grimshaw
97. Nick Kuh
98. Nick lockington
99. nicolas soucaille
100. Nigel Quashie
101. Oliver Loftus
102. Patryk Seredynski
103. Paul Dering
104. Paul Evans
105. Paul Johal
106. Paul Ormandy
107. Paulo Rego
108. Peter Hall
109. Peter Keating
110. Rasmus Knutsson
111. Rich Clark
112. Richard Leggett
113. Richard Lord
114. Ritchie Fisher
115. Rob Bateman
116. rob gibson
117. Rob Hinchcliffe
118. Rob Lewis
119. Robert McCardle
120. Robert McMichael
121. Robert Thurston
122. Robin Charney
123. Robin Harrison
124. Rui Cruz
125. Roland Swingler
126. Romain Gemon
127. Ross Freeman
128. Saumitra Dubey
129. Sean Hakansson
130. sean mcsharry
131. Sebastian Kassier
132. Sebastien BenMBarek
133. seetharamaraju vadlamudi
134. Shaun Pearce
135. Simon Baynes
136. Simon Knowles
137. Stephen Pearce
138. Stephen Rose
139. Steve Rigelsford
140. Stuart Gleave
141. Stuart Lees
142. Surya Kona
143. Tero Pikala
144. Thomas Newton
145. Thomas Vian
146. Tom Chislett
147. Tim Wilson
148. Tomas Vorobjov
149. Vanja Spremo
150. victor woode
151. Vladimir Exil
152. Wai Man
153. Yasmin Fostok
154. yates buckley
155. Yuk Fung Allan Au
156. Zoltan Bornemissza

If you clicked to attend and you’re not on it then email me

If you’re not a member of PokerCoder or you’ve never been to a PokerCoder event, then now’s your chance. Go to www.pokercoder.com and then to the Registration page. Fill out all your details and provided you qualify under the sponsors restrictions, you’ll be attending the adobe web professional poker tournament in the UK, and it’s FREE

It all kicks off at 7pm sharpe. There will be up to 100 entrants and Adobe are supplying all the prizes. The first 50 entrants get ALPT VI event Tshirts. It’s an incredible opportunity to network with peers, potential employers and Adobe representatives. This is the place to meet fellow professionals and ask questions and the free beer makes it even easier

The first 10 people out get special LOSER Tshirts and their choice of old Adobe crap, uh, sorry, I mean rustic, antique, collector’s crap, uh, swag. Wow, awkward.

The final 10 on the final table get special WINNERS Tshirts and will be offered the Adobe Web Suite point product of their choice (see the Prizes page on the site).

The tournament champion will get a suite of their choice, the champion’s bracelet and a ticket to Flash on the Beach which is a couple of weeks later.

Adobe are putting a considerable tab behind the bar which will open at 7:30pm. The whole event usually finishes a little before midnight and for those who like the idea of cash games we usually put some cash tables on later in the evening.

To learn all about what’s happening and where, go to the website. To be kept updated on what’s going on with PokerCoder events, in real time, I strongly suggest that you follow the PokerCoder Twitter as well.

Hi all. The 6th Adobe sponsored PokerCoder event is around the corner now.

If you are a PokerCoder member (which is pretty easy. You just have to have signed up for an event previously and qualify as an entrant) then you will be receiving your member’s advanced notification this morning allowing you to register (or not) with one click.

Please Note: IF YOU CLICK “YES” ON YOUR NOTIFICATION THEN YOU WILL GET TAKEN TO A CONFIRMATION PAGE. THAT’S IT. YOU ARE CONFIRMED! NO MORE EMAILS ASKING ME IF YOU’RE CONFIRMED. READ WHAT THE EMAIL AND THE CONFIRMATION PAGE SAY. UNLESS YOU HEAR OTHERWISE, YOU’RE IN.

So, get clicking. For those of you who aren’t members yet, please go to the PokerCoder site and read up on entrance requirements and the general registration page will be open to you all tomorrow morning.

Ok, so you had to wait a little longer than usual. Adobe tell me they’re to poor to run this 4 times this year…hmmm, not sure I believe them

But anyway, it’s in sight again now. We’ve booked the Loose Cannon poker club as usual. The club, staff and atmosphere is authentic and great and everyone loves the place. My co-compare will, as usual, be the famour Roy Houghton The event will be on Thrusday 3rd September, so mark you calendars.

Flash on the Beach (FotB) is on in mid September and we traditionally give tickets to FotB as top prizes (as well as Adobe software), so you may get to go for free.  FotB is unquestionably one of the premier Flash Platform and inspirational events in the world and if you haven’t been in previous years then you HAVE to go. Someone is going to win one at PokerCoder . The PokerCoder and Logic Bureau team all go every year and it’s a great place to meet, greet, network, socialize and be inspired by some of the top names in the industry. Everyone is friendly, the place is great and John’s nearly got it at a time of year where it’s actually warm enough to go on to the beach :p

But enough about John’s show ;), watch out for registration opening on the site www.pokercoder.com or for up to the minute alerts, follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/pokercoder.

We had a fantastic turn out at this event: over 100 players. We sold out the event in just over a week. One of our players even managed to flop a Royal Flush.

Don’t believe me? Check this out.

After nagging from Mike Jones, Dave Williamson and Dominic McAdden, I have finally given in and started to use Twitter, to enable everyone to follow pokercoder at least - see http://twitter.com/pokercoder. This will allow you to get instant notification of events, registration opening, changes in events, results etc.

Lot of people arrived early this time and in contrast, I scraped in there by the skin of my teeth at barely 7pm (the tournament start time)

I then had to do the registrations on my Mac, as I had forgotten to print off the attendee list. Grrrrr. This took so long that we didn’t start playing until about 8pm. After this, Adobe broke the news that Serge Jespers wasn’t coming and they wouldn’t be demoing Flash Catalyst or Flex 4 after all

So the event didn’t get off to a flying start, but hey, what event really does? And really it’s bout how you deal with the challenges set out before you.

Everyone was is great form and really up for the event. The Tshirts were all there and the first 50 registered got their event Tshirt. The first 10 knocked out got a full round of applause, their Loser’s T shirt and a crap prize of their choice, many of which were truly awful. Our lucky losers were:

In order of exit:

1. Biffer Rowley.
2. Chris Sees.
3. Dominic Crowhurst.
4. Jimmy Taylor.
5. Miguel Sanchez
6. Neil Bennett.
7. Chris Williams.
8. Mikko Tormala.
9. Byron Manley.
10. Stuart Lees.

I managed to go out in mediocre position and my night’s play was uneventful. I won a hand early on with a total bluff and by raising in position. Everyone folded to me. Suckers lol. However, the dealer at my table obviously had a whole stack of unlinked, unsuited low cards he had deliberatly put aside for me and by the time I was down to a tiny all-in stack I was lucky enough to draw a K+Q. Only one caller, but he had K+A. Ace on the flop and I was gone.

The Winners: In position number

1. Jonathan Craig - Tournament Champion (Web Premium Package - PC + ticket for FotB).
2. Alam Gill.
3. Alex Gounaropoulos.
4. Andrea Ottolina. (Photoshop CS4 Extended - Mac)
5. Sam Clark.
6. Surya Kona.
7. Irvin Suntokee.
8. Mark Schaschke.
9. Richard Lord.
10. Hamish Cross (Adobe After Effects CS4 for Windows)

Go see the photos of the night here

We finished up around midnight as usual, but lots of people were still there either watching the final table or playing at the numerous sit ‘n go tables that had sprung up as people went out. The last of us were thrown out at about 1am. Some of the hardcore crew even went on to The Empire casino in Leicester Square till the wee small hours in the morning to carry on.

For those of you who haven’t received the emails, don’t forget, if you registered for the event, it’s TONIGHT! Your names will be checked at the door. Everything starts at 7pm sharp so don’t be late.

Any questions, see the site.

Well you’ve waited patiently and here it is. The registration page for non members is now open, so if you want to join and attend THE Poker and Adobe Web Professional networking event then you’d better be ready. This time we’re extending the format a little as well. Adobe will have a number of experts on hand to demo and discuss Flash Catalyst (formerly known as Thermo) and Flex Builder 4. All new, shiny, exciting stuff.

The format, for those who don’t already know (though I can’t believe there’s anyone who doesn’t by now) is that only the first 100 registrants get a place (and automatic membership of PokerCoder, and thus advanced notification of future events).

Adobe lay on all the prizes and the booze, so thanks to their generosity, the venue and the event are all free for all of those who qualify to get in.

The first 50 people through the door wil each get a tournament Tshirt. The first 10 people out will be publicly humiliated, have rotten eggs and tomatoes thrown at them, be put in a stockade for the rest of the night and given a Loser’s Tshirt to wear. Well, you’ll get a Tshirt anyway.

The players making it to the final table (10 people) will each get a Winner’s Tshirt and software point product of their choice, and the over all tournament champion will get an Adobe  Premium Suite of their choice (Design, Web or Production), the engraved Championship bracelet and most excitingly, a ticket to Flash on the Beach in Brighton in September.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!