Bart(UK)

Awesome, well played everyone & congrats to the well deserved ???

MGM dropped out, wouldn't raise bid, maybe they'll look elsewhere to get a foothold online. I think Entain are happy as they are, they certainly seem to have a plan building up PartyPoker to rival PokerStars etc.

Yes finally a hand, this is going to be sooo...... oh wait it's PLO.... doh!

Enjoyed that, well deserved win Pablo.

Pretty much been inactive since pre-covid, stems from personal circumstances largely but my real life frustration levels had increased to such an extent that I could no longer tolerate the tourney to tourney, day to day, month on month bad beats or be bothered putting in the hours for a less than 10% return. Both requirements for sustained play and previously enjoyed but somehow lost in recent years. Think the lack of choice has changed a lot recently too, used to be fun trying to satellite into the UKPT, GUKPT, GPS live or sandboxing multiple online brands tournaments. Just doesn't seem the same anymore with PokerStars+1 or 2 other major brands. And of course everyone now tries pushing the 'flip' or 'turbo' variants. I'm old school, level playing field, no rebuys, decent structure. I always much prefer online to live. Used to get easily bored by the (relatively) slow hand rate live and too easily distracted. Health issues made getting to venues difficult and often arrived tired out before what would inevitably be a full day of thinking lol. Think age is also a factor, at my peak I could easilly 12-table STT's or 15-table MTT's, which became 'fun' when down to HU on 4 or 5 STT tables at once lol. Think the most I could manage now is 5 STT, or maybe 7 or 8 tournaments. I do continue to be inspired by the likes of Leo and his boundless enthusiasm towards the grind though and pray that the long deserved big wins start arriving like buses for him.. and members as a whole. To drag my wandering brain back somewhere close to being on topic, never say never, may return at some point, especially if lockdowns continue. Would be in line with what I've always done, trying to satellite in to stuff cheaply, no longer trust myself with proper buy ins ?

MGM Resorts have made an $11bn (£8.1bn) offer for Entain, the former GVC Holdings, which itself picked up PartyPoker in recent years. Entain owns the Ladbrokes, PartyPoker, Bwin, Eurobet, Coral, Gala poker brands together with Foxy Bingo. Just the latest in attempts from Bricks & Mortar casinos to get a foothold in the online gaming sphere, heightened by the impact Covid has had on their core business. I personally don't foresee any immediate concern for players/members, if approved which is far from guaranteed, MGM would likely run pretty much as is, other than the usual rebranding & consolidation of existing brands. Just my opinion, but posted to raise awareness amongst members. Entain have stated the bid is too low, so may be one that rumbles on for a while.

Welcome back TQM, deadlydave, Joe, missed you guys! I hope to pop in and make the odd guest appearance in the league at some point too, been a difficult year for various reasons and just haven't had the time or heart to play at all, but I will return soon.

Logged into my PokerStars account for first time in months and have 3 Free Spin&Go tickets. Might have been around a while, so you may have already seen and used them or maybe just for inactive accounts? don't know. Worth checking your accounts, opt-in required via the news popup on first logging in. Naturally I spun 2x$0.25 & 1xRetry and didn't hang around long enough to win any of them, but hey you never know. Commission on any £10k wins payable to me at....... yeah I'm joking but have fun & good luck. Bart

A true gentleman, will be sadly missed by the whole community. Love & thoughts with his family & friends.

So guys, apologies for still not being around much personally, I'm trying to deal with a lot of stuff at the moment, some of which you will have already seen via facebook etc. I will continue to pop in when I can. Purposely haven't read any ongoing discussion at the moment, but this is Punters Lounge, where open and honest discussion is always actively encouraged but lets sort things out amicably, calmly & respectfully with each other. We can look to change whatever isn't working for members, within the existing boundaries we have or seek/push new ones. Only noticed yesterday that Helen had been unwell, sending all our love, thoughts & best wishes to her and Duncan. Her well being & recovery is all that matters right now. Thanks to Dan for stepping in, please flag him or the usual suspects with anything that urgently needs to be looked at. For me at the moment the most effective way is flagging me personally on a PL Poker Club Facebook post.

Apologies for missing it, was in bed at 5:30pm and not in the hot-jiggedy way lol. Hopefully back next week if my back is back. Great to see a return to the top 3 for the legends that are slap & tickle, congrats all. ?

Well done everyone, great fun as always, more so given the larger turnouts, old school like it used to be Huge thanks to Sir Puntalot for bringing us all together in these dark (but surprisingly very sunny) days and the incredible added value ?

Back in for the banter. Great to see a good turnout. Good luck everyone. I'm EnglandBart for the benefit of any new members joining us

Will be great seeing you again. Keeping the trophy within the family but beating the old man heads up would be a pretty epic outcome, going to be a tough field, but you never know! Edit: Opening Post updated. 20 in main event now!

May have been me Leo, although not overly close, I'm north of Pompey.... although isn't everything come to think of it? ?‍?? Looks like you're sorted now which is awesome, but let me know if things change. Edit: I will be travelling up in the morning & staying over though.