Tango Poker League

Manchester’s number one Poker League, Tango Poker. Had its first final in 2013
First prize is a seat at the W.S.O.P in Vegas.
57 runners turned up at the Cleveland to see who would be the champion, and take home this fantastic prize.
With 15,000 starting stack, and blinds starting at 50/100,where would be a lot of play.
Ellen Harding who made the final table on her last outing was first out when her Ace high flush was beaten by a full house.
We eventually got down to the final table where everyone was garneted a prize.
Here are the final 9 and chip count
Seat 1 Dave Cunniff 179.3k
Seat 2 Marc Renshaw 64.4k
Seat 3 David Hough 148.3k
Seat 4 Leon Pimbley 58.7k
Seat 5 Sam Lovett 54.3k
Seat 6 Chris Gallager 132.2k
Seat 7 Joe Power 109.0k
Seat 8 Gary McCann 59.1k
Seat 9 “Tango” Dave 60.4k
Leon was the first to hit the rails when he raised with pocket Ks,only to be reraised all in by Dave Hough with pocket As
Leon call,and with no help on the board,As hold up and Liam Pimbley out in 9th and picks up £20
Chris is the next to leave the table, when he makes a move, and goes all in with Q J.
Dave Hough calls with A 6.
Chris misses and a 6 on the river seals his fate
Chris Gallagher is out in 8th and picks up £30
Joe Power is the next to leave the final table.
He goes all in with 7 8 and is calls by Dave Hough with A 8
5 6 10 is on the flop, which gives Joe a up and down straight draw, Ace on the turn, but a J on the river gives Dave the winning hand, and Joe Power is out in 7th with £40
Dave Cunnings is the next to hit the rails
With no raise pre flop
8 5 3 Tango Dave bets out and Dave Cunniff moves all with pocket 7s
Tango call,
With no help on the turn or river, David Cunniff is out in 6th with £50
Gary McCann is now short stacked and pushes all in with J 4 suited, called by Dave Hough with A 10
The flop is kind to Gary with a J 3 Q giving Gary middle pair.
An Ace on the turn puts Dave in front, with a 9 on the river takes Gary McCann out in 5th and a prize of £60
Marc Renshaw,now makes a move and goes all in with K Q,Dave Hough reraises all in with A 7, only to run into Tango Dave big slick suited.
Tango, has them all covered.
Flop J 6 5 turn 4 river 2
Marc Renshaw is out in 4th and picks up £80
Dave Hough is out in 3rd, and picks up £120
We are now heads up with Tango Dave having a big chip lead,after taking out the last 2 players.
The very ist hand Tango raises with an A only to be called with a Higher kicker.
First round to Sam
Tango again sees an A and raises,only to be reraised all in by Sam.
Tango calls
Tango A 6 Sam K 8
Flop 8 2 Q,Sam has hit his 8
Turn 2 but an Ace on the river seals Sam fate
Sam Lovett is out in 2nd and wins £250,in his ist final ever
“Tango” Dave wins the Tango Poker Final,and wins a seat + flight+ acc to Vegas and the W.S.O.P.
Well done Tango.

Tango Dave with winning hand

Manchester’s number 1 poker league, Tango Poker, had its two monthly final at the Toll Point in Denton
44 players turned up, to try to win a seat to the GUKIPT.
Jay Hewitt was chip leader, and looked like he was going to make the final table on his IST final, but fell at the final hurdle, and went out on the bubble.
Jay went all in with AQ, only to get called by pocket 10s.It was a cold deck to Jay, and the pocket 10s held up.
Final Table Chip Count
Seat 1 Kevin Cardwell 112.6k
Seat 2 Marc Renshaw 52.4k
Seat 3 Steve Francis 121.1k
Seat 4 Terry Beresford 149k
Seat 5 Mich Good 37.1k
Seat 6 Graham Richardson 93.3k
Seat 7 Andy Duff 39.3k
Seat 8 Dave Hough 27.2k
Seat 9 Jonny Addison 53.2k
The ist to hit the rails is Steve Franis, when he raises to 26k, and gets called by Terry.
Flop 10 7 7, Steve moves all in with pocket 9s, called by Terry with A 10.
With no help on the turn or the river, Steve Francis is out in 9th, and picks up £20.
Terry is now chip leader and starts to bully the table.
Terry raises to 26k, and Dave Hough goes all in for 14k
With no other callers, we are on show down
Terry has K 10 suited, Dave shows pocket 7s
Flop 9c 2c K.Terry has hit top pair, and is 4 to the flush.
Turn6 River 4, and Dave Hough is out in 8th, and picks up £30
Mitch is the next to hit the rails, when terry raises SB vBB
A4 v 68
Flop 8 4 2 Turn 10 river A
Mitch is out in 7th and picks up £40
Terry is again using his chip stack and raises to 26k.Andy Duff comes over the top with 42k all in,Jonny(best player in Manchester) re raises all in for 103k
Terry folds.
Show down Jonny pocket Ks. Andy A6
Flop K 2 2 turn 5 River 9
Andy Duff out in 6th and £50 the richer
Marc is the next to leave the table on a bad beat.
Mark raises and terry moves all in with A9
Mark calls with AJ suited
Flop 5 7 2 Turn 3 river 9.
So unlucky.
Marc Renshaw is out in 5th and £60 the better
The bad beats carry on, when Graham raises and jonny calls.
Flop 4 6 10
Graham bets the flop and Jonny moves all in, called by Graham
Graham show pocket Ks against Jonnys Q 10 suited
Turn J River Q.The River gives Jonny 2 pair and Graham Richardson is out in 4th for £80
We are now 3 handed and Terry is still chip leader.
A deal is struck that 3rd and 2nd would receive the same amount.
That soon changes when Terry raises and Jonny moves all in with pocker Js, Terry calls with his A, but the Js hold up.
Terry raises with Q J on the button. Kevin calls on the BB with 6 8
Flop 4 5 10 Turn J river A. Terry’s Q high holds up and Kevin Cardwell is out in 3td
Kevin picks up £160 for his troubles.
Terry makes a move and pushes all in with Q 10 only to run into Jonnys pocket 9s
Flop 2 4 8 turn 2 river 6
Terry Beresford is out in 2nd and picks up £160.
Jonathon(best player in Manchester) Addison picks up his IST Tango Poker Title and a seat to the GUKIPT

Well done Jonathon
For more information about the league, you can check the website viawww.tangopokerleague.co.uk
Email: dave@tangopokerleague.co.uk
We are also on Face book

The best Poker League in Manchester had its latest Final at the Bulls Head in Sale.
47 players turned up to be the next Tango Champion, and take home a great prize.
The first out, and the winner of the wooden spoon, was not the player most people in the know, would have picked (Hutch). But a player who was attending his first final Jamie Noonan
We got down to the final table with the following chip count
Seat 1 Andy Duff 133k
Seat 2 Scott Jimenez 47k
Seat 3 Kieron McCathy 132k
Seat 4 Nigel Welden 85k
Seat 5 Ellen Harding 63k
Seat 6 Eric Dewhurst Snr 35k
Seat 7 Graham Richardson 25k
Seat 8 Terry Beresford 150k
Seat 9 Curt Cragg 38k
The first to hit the rail was Graham Richardson moves all in with K9
Andy Duff calls with Kj
Flop 10 A 4 Turn A river 3.
Graham is out in 9th,but still picks up £20 for his efforts
Curt Cragg is the next to leave the final table when he goes all in with AJ only to get called A 10
Flop 2 9 9 turn 2 river 10
Kieron gets lucky and hits the river.
Curt Cragg out in 8th and picks up £30 for his efforts
Scott jimenez is the next to leave the table.
He makes a move and goes all in with Kd3d,only to get called with A J
With no help on the board ,Scott is out in 7th and £40 the richer.
Eric Dewhurst Snr is the next to hit the rails
Eric moves all in with Q 5 . Terry Beresford on the big blind calls with 5 8
Flop A 10 8 Turn 3 river 6
Terry catches a 8 on the flop and Eric Dewhurst snr is out in 6th with £50.
Kieron is the next to go out.
He moves all in with K 2 on a board of K 5 6.
Only to be called by Terry Beresford with K Q. Turn K river 9 .
Kieron is out in 5th with £60 and a seat to the next Manchester Confidential game at the 235 Casino
Ellen is the next to leave the final table, when she moves all in with K 2 suited.
Nigel Welden also moves all in with KK, Terry Beresford also calls with QJ
Flop 6 8 Q turn 4 river 4
Ellen is out in 4th with £80 and a seat to the next Manchester Confidential game at the 235 Casino
Terry Beresford is the next to hit the rails
Terry raises with AK only to be re raised all in by Andy Duff with QQ
Terry calls and a flop of 9 10 6 turn J river 4
Pocket Qs hold up and Terry Beresford is out in 3rd, and a prize of £130 and a seat to Manchester Confidential next game at the 235 Casino
Heads up did not take long.
Nigel raises with A3 only for Andy to re raise all in with pocket 5s
Nigel calls
Flop 7 2 8 turn Q river J
Andy Duff is the new Tango Poker League Champion
Nigel picks up £260 and a seat to Manchester Confidential next game at the 235 Casino
Andy Duff did not take the seat offered, but took a cash alternative of £500 and a seat to Manchester Continentals next game at the 235 Casino.

Well done Andy(Rebel) Duff
For more information about the league you can go to www.tangopokerleague.co.uk or email dave@tangopokerleague.co.uk you can also follows us on face book

Tango Poker League, the best League in Manchester, had its player of the year at the Gardeners Arms.
Players had been chasing the player of the month position all year, to get to this final.
The winner will win a seat to the LCI UK Poker tour at the 235 Casino in Manchester.
13 players (I know it should be 12, but yours truly cannot count) sat down to contest the seat.
Player of Month
Feb 2011 Andy McGuigan
March 2011 Dave (Tango) Thompson
April 2011 Andy Duff
May 2011 Nick Evans
June 2011 Chris Bowker
July 2011 Jonny Lockley
Aug 2011 Stephen Kay
Sept 2011 Eric Dewhurst (snr)
Oct 2011 Chris Gallagher
Nov 2011 Steve Francis
Dec 2011 Scott Jimenez
Jan 2012 Adam Kaczamarek
Feb 2012 Alan Kinsey.
With a starting stack of 15k and blinds of 50/100 where would be a lot of play early.
We lost 2 players at the same time When J 6 3 came on the flop .Steve Francis bet, and was re raised by Stephen Kays all in. Chris Gallaghers calls, and so does Steve Francis
Steve F has 45 up and down straight draw
Stephen has J8 top pair
Chris has J9
Turn is 4 river 3.
Chris wins the hand 2 pair Js and 3s with a 9 kicker.
The next player to hit the rails was Andy McGuigan
He pushes all in with pocket Js and is called by Chris Bowker with AQ
Flop 949 turn A river Q

Andy out in 11th.
Next was Andy Duff, He pushed with his pocket 7s only to run up against Nick Evans pocket As
With a A on the flop. It’s all over for Andy Duff who goes out in 10th
Alan Kinsey is the next to hit the rails
With a J 10 suited he goes all in on a 3 10 5 board called my Nick with 4 6 open ender
Turn is a J but river is a 2 giving nick the straight.
Alan out in 9th
Down to the Final Table
Scott is the first to leave the final table
Eric moves all in with A2, and is called by Scott on the BB who is short stacked
Flop K 2 7 Turn is a good card for Scott, but Eric catches a A on the river. Scott out in 8th
Chris Gallagher is the next to go, when he moves all in with 9 10 and is called by Chris Bowker
Chris hits trip 9s on the turn but the 9 gives Chris B the flush. With the board not pairing or hitting a 10(for his full house) Chris Gallagher is out in 7th
The next hand plays very similar Jonny has hit the flush on the flop with J2h on a board of AK7h
Chris has bet out with A7 trying to stop jonny hitting the flush. But jonny already has it and calks the bet. Putting him all in.A on the river gives Chris the full house and Jonny Lockley out in 6th
Next to leave is Adam who moves all in with his short stack and is called by Nick and Eric
Flop J87 Eric bets nick calls turn 4 check check. River K .Eric wins the hand with J9 nick had Q10 Adams A5 is beaten and out in 5th.
Tango is the next to leave the table. Getting short stacked I pushed in position with JQ only to get called on the bid blind with A8.Flop A610 turn A river 8
Tango out in 4th
Nick makes a move(Q10) and goes all in on the button. Eric calls on the big blind with AJ
J on the flop sees nick stack reduced to 1 chip. Got caught with his hands in the cookie jar lol
Nick is all in on the next hand. 83 Chris has JQ board 5J4 8 5 Chris has hit the J on the the flop.
Nick Evans out in 3rd
We are now heads up, with Eric having a 2:1 advantage on the chips.
Chris makes a move on the small blind and goes all in with J9
Eric calls with Q2 suited flop 10 4 A turn 8.now Chris has a straight draw. But no help on the river 4
Chris Bowker is 2nd.

But the Winner for Player of the year 2011-2012 is Eric Dewhurst (snr) who wins a seat to the LCI UK Poker Tour at the 235 Casino Manchester
You can check the league out by going to www.tangopokerleague.co.uk .If you have any questions or want a game at your local
Email dave@tangopokerleague.co.uk we are also on Facebook

Manchester’s No1 poker league Tango Poker. Had its first team event at the Cleveland.
Nine teams of four took to the tables for the bragging rights of being Tango Poker Leagues first team champions.
The first part of the game, was where every team player, played an individual table. And where you finished determined how many extra chips you brought to the Team final table
8th place 0 chips
7th place 200chips
6th place 400chips
5th place 600 chips
4th place 800 chips
3rd place 1000 chips
2nd place 2000 chips
1st place 3000 chips

This would make the final table team event very interesting; as you could potentially have a team with 6000(all 8th) sat down to a team with 18000chips (all 1st)
The seating and chip stacks where as follows

Pos 1 Team 3’ Danny’s Army’ with 12.6k chips
Pos 2 Team 7 ‘The Mighty Ducks’ 11k chips
Pos 3 Team 8 ‘Blackley Champs’ 10.6k chips
Pos 4 Team 6’Any Two Will Do’ 9.2k chips
Pos 5 Team 2 ‘Dream Team’ 10.6k chips
Pos 6 Team 5 ‘Scholesy’s Angels’ 10.4k chips
Pos 7 Team 9 ‘Out of Towner’s’ 10.2k chips
Pos 8 Team 1 ‘Horwich Dirty Donkers’ 11.6k chips
Pos 9 Team 4 ‘The Usual Suspects’ 7.6k chips
The rules of the team event was that each player had one time out (where he could discuss the hand with the rest off the team.)
Each team member could only play for 1 blind level, and then had to change.
That a player could not play again until all of the team had had their go.
The Blinds started at 100/200

The first out was Team 4 ‘Usual Suspects’
With a board of Q99 J and being re raised holding 8 10
Richard Johnson calls for a time out.
When he comes back and pushes all in. Danny from team 3 calls with A 9
A on the rivers seals it and Team 4 ‘Usual Suspects are out in 9th
Next we have a big clash .Team 8 Blackley Champs push with A 10.Only to be called by Team 7 Mighty Ducks AQ and Team 2 Dream Team with QQ
With a board of K 10 6 5 2 Queens hold up and the Blackley Champs and Mighty Ducks hit the rail.
Next big move is when Badger (Out Of Towner’s) raises with KJ and Scholey’s Angels move all in with 89 suited. Board 10 J K 4 3
Out of Towner’s double up
Eugene is the next to hit the rails. With a board of 8s 6h 10h Eugene pushes all in holding 9h 5h
Danny call with 9 7 and the straight holds up, with no help for Eugene on the turn or the river
Any Two Will Do out in 6th
Next to leave the table is Danny’s Army
With a board of 489 7 Adam White pushes all in
Danny calls after a time out with 56
Adam has the higher straight with 6 10
No help on the river and Danny’s Army out in 5th
Andy Mac is the next to make a move when he pushes with A7 only to be called with Ashton’s pocket 7
K69 8 4
Scholesys Angels out in 4th
Danny McDermott makes the next move, when he pushes all in on a 663 board with A3
Only to be called by Ashtons pocket 8s
No help on the turn or the river and Danny’s Dream Team are out in 3rd
Down to heads up, but this did not last long as Carl pushed all in, and Badger looking at pocket 5.
Badger called, only for Carl to turn over pocket Q
273 10 J
Queens hold up and the Horwich Dirty Donkers win the first Tango Team Event

Hard luck the Out Of Towners.Running into a higher pocket pair heads up

Visit the website www.tangopokerleague.co.uk
Email dave@tangopokerleague.co.uk
We are also on facebook

The number one poker league in Manchester, Tango Poker League, had its first final at the Albion
61 Runners sat down to see who would be the new poker champion, and pick up the £600 top prize.
With 15k of chips each and 30 mins blinds, there should be a lot of play early.
The first out and the winner of the wooden spoon was Steve Kama, when his 2 pair got beaten by a flush on the river.
The last surviving woman, Amanda (AJ) Leslie went out in 12th

AJ Out in 12th

We eventually got down to the final table and into the money, with the following players
Seat 1 Chris Gallagher 210k
Seat 2 Alec Pagel 52k
Seat 3 Steve Francis 55k
Seat 4 Lewis Greenhalgh 53k
Seat 5 Faz Karodia 24k
Seat 6 Jonathon Howell 191k
Seat 7 Andy McGuigan 91k
Seat 8 Curt Cragg 58k
Seat 9 Malcolm Young 194k.

The first casualty was Faz. Who pushed with A8, only to be called by AJ.
AJ holds up and Faz is out in 9th, but £20 the richer.
The next out, is a regular on the final table, Steve Francis
Chris Gallagher raises and Steve comes over the top, all in.
Everybody else folds to the chip leader Chris.
Showdown
Chris AK suited Steve KK
Steve’s KK holds up to the turn, then the case A hits the river
Steve Francis out in 8th.
Curt Cragg was next out
Lewis raises Curt all in on the big blind. Curt being short stacked decides to call with K6 spades
Lewis has KQ and hits a straight on the flop. With no help on the turn or river, curt is out in 7th
This was Curt’s first final table, well done.
Next to hit the wire is Alex Pagel
Alex goes all in with pocket 3s and gets called by Jonathon with AQ
A on the river sees Alex Pagel out in 6th
This was Alex’s first Tango final, and what a good showing
Jonathon Howells is the next to hit the wire
He rises with A7 only to be rerased all in by Lewis with AJ
Jonathon calls, but with no help for either hand on the board, AJ wins
Jonathon is out in 5th, but with £60 a seat to the next Manchester Confidential poker game at the 235 Casino. Not a bad result
Lewis Greenhalgh now makes a move with Q10 and goes all in, only to be called by Malcolm on the big blind with A5
With a board of 334 7 8 Lewis Greenhalgh is out in 4th. Lewis has also won a seat to the Manchester Confidential and £80
Andy McGuigan is the next to go all in on a short stack, with 74
Chris calls with K8. The flop is 469. Andy is in front. A 5 on the turn gives Chris more out(any K 8 or 7)
7 on the river give Andy two pair, but gives the straight to Chris.
Andy McGuigan out in 3rd. Andy picks up £100 and a seat to Manchester Confidential.
We are finally down to heads up.
This is Malcolm’s first Tango Poker Final.
He has done well to get here. He took a big hit, when down to 5 players, and built his stack back up.
Chris has also done well. Although chip leader from the get go, He has managed to keep pressure on the smaller stacks, and not over played his hands.
We finally get down to the winning hand
Malcolm big blind is 10 2. When the flop J 9 8 hits the board, Malcolm is all in
Chris quickly calls having hit top pair with 4J
Turn is 4 river J

Malcolm misses his straight, but Chris has hit a full house
Malcolm Young picks up £240 plus a seat to Manchester Confidential
Chris Gallagher is the new Tango Poker League Champion, and wins £600 first prize

Albion Final

Well done Chris

For more information on Manchesters number 1 Poker League
Visit www.tangopokerleague.co.uk
Email dave@tangopokerleague.co.uk
We are also on facebook

Special thanks to Jon and the staff for making 1st final at the 235 so memorable.
The game got off at 2pm with all the reserves sitting down for 2.15.
69 players out of a possible 70 started playing for a seat to the W.S.O.P. seat in Vegas
With a starting stack of 15k and the blinds starting at 50/100, where would be a lot of play early.
During the 1st break Jonny Lockley

And Chris Bowker
Got presented the player for the month (June & July) they will be playing for the player of the year and a seat to Dusk Till Dawn 100k event next year.
A free draw was also carried out for a satellite seat at the 235 W.S.O.P.E. This was won by Paul Berrey:-see you Sunday Paul.

We eventually got down to the final table
Seat 1 Joe Power 79k Seat 2 Martin Heywood 161k
Seat 3 Andy Bell 72k Seat 4 Sharon Weldon 135k
Seat 5 Eric Dewhurst jnr 206k Seat 6 Gary Whitty 48k
Seat 7 Scott Jiminiz 307k Seat 8 Andy Duff 54k
Seat 9 Joe Abbott 115k Seat 10 John Georgeson 22k
1st to hit the rails was John Georgeson who went all in with KQ called by Gary with JQ
Flop K26 Turn 10 River 9
Gary hits the straight on the river, John out in 10th
Andy Duff is the next out. Andy is all in with 10 4 on a board of 10 6 3.Called by Joe Abbott with KK
Kings hold up. Andy out in 9th
Gary pushes with AJ .Sharon goes on in on the big blind with JQ
Gary call and the A stands up. Sharon out in 8th
Scott is the next to hit the wire. He makes a move with K2 but gets called by Joe Abbott with 45 of spades. Joe hits the straight. Scott out in 7th
Martin is next to hit the wire, when his A3 gets called by Andy’s pocket As. Pocket rockets stand up.
Martin out in 6th
Gary now makes a move with A2; Andy calls with pocket 5s, and hits a flush on the river.
Gary out in 5th
Joe Abbott now pushes with A7.Called by Joe Power with pocket QQ
Joe Abbott hits the A on the flop
Joe Power out in 4th
Joe now goes all in with AQ against Eric’s big blind. Eric call with QK
A stands up
Eric out in 3rd
Joe goes all in with J9 suited, called by Andy with pocket 7s
/Andy hits a 7 on the flop and wins the W.S.O.P. Seat
Well done Andy Bell

Wednesday’s first port of call was the 235 Casino to confirm a few things regarding the TPL final on Aug. 28^th, namely, the bar discount for Tango players on the day! The Rhino orders 2 pints of Carling while i’m off looking for Doug, the card room gaffer..

“no, i only want 2 pints luv” i hear the big fella say to the barmaid, “yes i know” she says, then very politely tells him again “that’s £7.80 please” now i’ve never seen a Rhino knocked down with a feather before, but i reckon if i would of had one with me it may well have been possible!

The tiny “Barbie-doll” looking barmaid was anxiously waiting for this giant of a man to pay her & once she had given the change she disappeared quicker than a bucket of freshly salted slugs! To make matters worse for Johnny, i informed him that this trip was a waste of time because Doug wasn’t even on duty that evening!

THREE OR 3?

Anyway we arrive at the Three Arrows in Middleton, 2 tables for the end of month game. Most players put a £5 bounty on their own head in this 13,000 stack game. I get the beer in on arrival and paid a lot less than £7.80 & tasted a lot better for it lol.

With Johnny’s wallet still smarting from our stop off at the Casino i offer to get him another pint to balance things up while i go for a quick chat with the poker lads & take the name card round, this cheered him up immensely & he posted another 2 for good measure!….. good job i’m doing the driving tonight. A good game was in progress and a lot of action on nearly every pot with the bounties in play but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves bounty or not.

Off To Alti..

“i’m not ice skating” the big fella informs me when i pick him up & tell him we’re off to Altrincham.

Once again it’s the month end game but this time Lee, the Landlord of the Bridge puts up £50 for Tango player who have played 3 out of 4 games in the month (or 4 out of 5 if there’s 5 Thursdays in the month) now i think this is a fantastic idea and my BIG THANKS goes out to Lee for making ‘this’ Tango venue even better for Tommy & his band of regulars to play in.

The Toll Point was our next port of call, where it all began for Tango. The ‘Tolly’ was the first pub to sign up for the TPL & we had our launch-come-opening game here in July 09, a few of the usual suspects are still on parade plus new members are always directed to the Tolly to ease them into a Tango game night mainly because there’s ALWAYS sausages laid on at the break!

The Rhino is in some sort of text conversation that is making him rather too giddy for my liking, and after the final text he then tells me “i can’t make tomorrow night, i have to meet someone called Debbie & 11 other student nurses and show them around Manchester!” I demand to know why i’m not invited on this excursion. “it’s ok mate” he says “i’ve got this one covered, i don’t think there’s any need for a wing-man”

So Friday i’m off to the Hare & Hounds in Gorton for one of Tango’s deep stack games. Andy ‘the rebel’ Duff is the TD & starts everyone on 25k as it’s not a school night, we all pay a £2 bounty to put on our own heads, and a further 50p is collected off everyone & a name is picked at random for the ‘super bounty’… all good fun!

COME AND RESCUE ME!!!  The text reads on my phone, with a rather puzzled look on my face i decide to ring the Rhino for an explanation of his text. “what’s up fella? Too many chickens in your coop?” i ask.. “I WISH!” the big fella barks back at me, “let me put it this way, other than Debbie all the rest aint chickens, they’ve ALL got budgie smugglers on! And i’m stuck in the middle of the gay village because they ALL wanted to come here!”

I drop my phone laughing at my friends predicament and think to myself how glad i am not to be on this ‘nurse’s tour of Manchester’ where there seemed to be more mince than even Mr. Kippling could handle at Christmas, and i let him stew for about an hour before i send the text “Don’t worry… help is on the way!”

Step 1, I pick up Kev-2-Legs on my way to the City centre telling him we have to save Johnny from 12 student nurses, he blurts out that ‘he’ would look after them if i want to take the Rhino back to the pub with me.

Step 2, pulling up outside the pub i tell him to go inside, find the Rhino and he will point out Debbie “and after that it’s up to you mate”

Step 3, quick splash of Brute & the boy goes in! The car door didn’t get chance to close before the big fella was in shouting DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE! Lol, not heard off Kev since but i’m sure he’s ok wherever he is!

Day off on Saturday, but it’s the Tango Final Sunday!

Too Hot For This…

We called in on The Gardeners Arms on Sunday to see if they were actually playing outside because of the warm weather! No, was the answer as all 22 runners seemed to have the pub to themselves because everyone else was in the beer garden!

15,000 starting stack at the Gardeners starting at 8pm but all the talk in the place was about Tango upping the 1^st prize of the 2-month final to a $1,500 seat at the next W.S.O.P. with hotel & flights in Vegas. The top 70 players in the league will be invited to the fantastic 235 Casino in Manchester to play for the fantastic 1^st prize worth over £2,000!

The Rhino, my beer monster chum , asked me “if i come to Vegas with you, do i have to play poker?” not what you would call a lover of the game my friend, but saying that he doesn’t really like anything that gets in the way of discovering his own “perfect pint” never mind Carling’s!

“Don’t worry” i told him “your job when we’re over there next year, is to find out what’s best, Bud or Coors!” he seemed delighted by this and ordered a couple of beers to celebrate.

I spotted Alan Kinsey on table 2 and went over for a quick chat, ‘AK’ keeps telling me i’m much older than he is but i can’t see it myself as he has 8 grandchildren and tells me he’s only 46! Who’s he trying to kid? He told me he’s 47 in August, so from August Mr. Kinsey shall be known as AK47!

Over The Border…

Monday night seen us landing at The Victoria in Horwich, Bolton. It seemed really quiet in the massive vault at the Vic, mind you last time i was there on a Monday night Bolton Wanderers were at home & the Reebok stadium is just around the corner.  

Andy Winning runs the games at the Vic on Mondays & Wednesdays, both nights start at 8pm with 10,000 chips. The Bolton crowd got the ball rolling by starting a fresh name card i’m taking out & about with me. £1 per square and the winner will get a seat at Manchester’s 235 Casino on Sunday 4^th Sept. In their first £50 W.S.O.P.E. feeder games! So make sure you have a spare couple of quid with you for when i turn up at your game.

Off to The Albion in Middleton next for another of Tango’s Monday night games. Howard started with 15,000 in chips for his 18 players & we turned up just as the players went on a 10 minute break at the end of level 3, perfect timing! I thought, whipped out my name card and the smoking area was now full of players searching their pockets for £1 coins.

The Rhino taps me on the shoulder, then pointing a finger at Howard he said to me “first time i’ve seen ‘H’ at a poker game still awake” not as crazy as it sounds actually, i’m up to 9 different pictures of ‘H’ asleep in 9 different pubs! I’ve told him, as soon as i get 12 i’m making a calendar to raffle off for charity!

Back at the bar, The Rhino was sorting a few quid out for his Vegas Club. In case you’re new to Tango, “Vegas Club” is a savings club for anyone interested in going to Vegas next year in the middle 2 weeks of June, the idea being.. the more of us there is going then the cheaper it will be! If you want any more info on Tango’s Vegas Club check out our Facebook page.

Tuesday..

A quick visit to the 235 Casino to confirm a few details for Tango’s final on the 28^th August, only to find out that Doug, the card room manager is in Vegas! Oh well, fingers crossed that all is good for the 28^th, don’t want to start changing anything now the dates & prizes have all been arranged. (regular Tango players are not used to things being changed at the last minute! LOL LOL LOL LOL!!)  

So me & the big fella set off for Cheers Bar in Prestwich singing the theme song from the famous rubbish TV show. “i wonder if everyone really will know my name when we get there” the Rhino says to me when we got to that point in the lyrics, “doubt it” i said “people are usually just scared of you”

Johnny goes into Cheers while i pose for a photo with the sign outside, i decide to ‘dance’ my way into the place for some reason & thinking i was alone bustin’ moves, there was a couple who i hadn’t spotted in the corner who found this hilarious! In fact the young lady was suffering from some sort of breathing problem from my Elvis impression & found it hard to hold back some sort of bodily function???

The league’s Guv’, “Tango Dave” runs this game and his head popped up saying “behave yourself! Just tell people we start at 8 with 13,000 but the venue is subject to change on Champions League nights now both City & United are in it” so there you go, i’ve told you…… T1L

Intro….

After a couple of meetings with Manchester Confidential, who are a HUGE on-line magazine with over 100,000 readers in & around Manchester, they have asked me to write a weekly blog about pub poker namely Tango poker.

Man.Conf. are very well connected with various people (and possible sponsors) but mainly from our point of view they are connected to Manchester’s 235 casino. Together with the 235 they will be holding £50+£7 “deep stack freeze out” tourney’s every month to send people to the WSOPE tourneys all over Europe. The buy-ins will pay for the seats and Man.Conf. will be putting up flights & hotels.

The 235….

The 235 casino has had a re-furb over the past few months and they now have a very impressive card room, i’ve been down there for a tour & a meeting with the staff who told me that they intend to follow the WSOPE by running games each month for seats at the next game on the tour. WSOPE feeders will be dealer-dealt tourneys with a free buffet for the players (hence the £7 rake lol)

The 235 is more relaxed than the G casino or any other casino by the way you don’t have to provide ID to join, it works like any other pub or club, if your dressed smart and you don’t look under age then you’re in!

Also keeping “in” with 235 we get to find out about anything else they might start doing and maybe some freebies off them if we keep filling up the WSOPE seats…. who knows??

Using This Blog….

My idea for this blog is for it to work in a few different ways, i will be visiting all the venues on the Tango calendar taking a few photos & jotting a few things down, not only about the poker but the pub itself. I think this will be good advertising for pubs on the circuit when you think of the amount of people reading the blog via the Man.Conf. tab.

Also if a pub is holding a charity night or some other sort of fund raising activity then i can push it into that week’s blog. Most pubs seem to be taking name cards or raffle tickets round each week raising money for someone or something local so why not use this to let 1000’s know about the cause? Speaking of good cause’s…..

I will be “replacing” Tango league games for fund raising games across the fixture list about every 2 weeks or so, the 1st will be at the Strawberry Duck on Wed. 13th July. just for one night the normal league game will become a fund raiser where players can win £50(+£7) seats to the WSOPE game at the 235 as well as seats for Manchester Confidential’s £20(+£5) double chance game also at the 235. All Tango players that attend will be given 150 league points plus all non Tango members will be given instant membership and 150 points! (hopefully this will kick start these people into becoming regular players in the TPL and maybe introducing some new venues) contact me direct for buy-in details by email at  tony1leg@gmail.com  or PM me on facebook  Tony OneLeg

I will be trying to attract a bigger audience with this blog than just poker players, i’ve enlisted the help of my beer monster chum Johnny “The Rhino” who will be giving his “drunk’s eye view” of pubs & venues we visit. The last blog i did was about the up’s & down’s of Droylsden FC. we built up quite a following from people who didn’t care less about the football, they just wanted more of what we was getting up to & slagging off! but as the saying goes, any advertising is good advertising! so if i write this blog in the same sort of way hopefully more people will be bookmarking the address at the top of this page. This means if you are somewhat of a character in the TPL your photo plus whatever slander i choose to write about you will end up all over Man. Conf’s. website for 1000′s to see! lol lol…………. you know who you are !!!

Finally…

Pokershark is a free on-line magazine and they have a website promoting all local pub poker in Manchester and advertise Tango games (here) worth a look and don’t forget…. it’s FREE!

Read about Manchester Confidential’s Poker tourneys (also where this blog will appear) on the new poker tab (here)

To give you an idea of how this blog will look my Bloods (Droylsden FC) blog is still open for now (here)

Thanks for reading this folks… please add to the discussion page on Tango’s Facebook as ALL and ANY feedback is both wanted & welcome…… T1L.