SECCIÓN

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MAY 2011UK £1.00

POKER BETTING LIFESTYLE www.gx-world.com

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Bringing Sexy Flat Flat Racing Set For Classic Season

Black FridayWhat Went Down In US Shake-Up

Reggae Blooded MaleAli Campbell Exclusive

40 TO BUY-IN OR TO BUY A BENTLEY? Super High Roller Fever

42 FROM A TO ZIMBLERAND BACK AGAINSomething Superstitious

44 ARCHIE SHARK:MAYDAY, MAYDAY! The Ramblings of A Hapless Gambler

46 WORLD POKER TOURZONEWPT Season IX Results And Schedule

48 DON’T BLUFF THEROMANELLO Roberto Romanello Exclusive

50 THE UKPPL SECONDCOMING Month In Review

STRATEGY52 THE SULTANS OF SWING

Profitable Bankroll Management

LIFESTYLE56 GET YOUR KIT OUT

Two Wheels Are Better Than One

60 REGGAE BLOODEDMALE Ali Campbell Exclusive

62 BOOK OF THE MONTHEleven

64 GET YOUR BET ONMay’s Best Bets

66 THE FOX’S DENCounting The Cost Of Success

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CONTENTS

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40The Sports Stars Of Poker

Super High Roller Fever

Get Your Kit Out

NEWS

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They may be about to overtake Liverpool as England’s most successful side in domestic competitions, but Manchester

United are already top dog in another altogether different field. In a survey carried out by Online Opinion Polls For The People, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were voted the most hated company in the UK after 26% of those polled confirmed their loathing of the north-west club.

With 11 Premier League and seven First Division titles in their trophy cabinet, alongside three European Cups, 11 FA Cups, four League Cups, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, a European Super Cup and a World Club Championship, the club were deemed more detestable than second place Ryan Air who received 23% of the vote. Banking giants RBS and Lloyds only scored 17

and 16% of the votes with the club’s hatred reaching 31% in the north-west and London. A survey spokesman said: “Manchester United is possibly a victim of its own success,” although recent news that parent company Red Football Joint Venture announced losses of £108.9m for the 12 months ending June 30 2010 can’t have helped with Red Football’s total debt now standing at £590.4m.

While GX was not invited to take part in the survey, it can quote company policy on the matter of Manchester United: “Employees must not look towards Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney – both of whom have been charged by the Football Association this season for blistering attacks on referees and foul mouthed expletives at television cameras – for guidance on acceptable standards of behaviour.”

Fox Poker Club raise Money For injured Heroes

ManCHesTer uniTed VoTed MosT HaTed CoMPany

PKR’s flagship live event will once again be heading to London this month with PKR Live VI set to take place

at The Fox Poker Club between May 19-22. The online poker community’s players will flock to the capital for the £700 + 50 buy-in Main Event with an expected £200,000 prize pool up for grabs. The tournament will undergo a structural change this year with two Day 1s followed by a Day 2 and Day 3 to give players a chance to play more poker than in previous editions.

The field will be limited to PKR only players, with satellites running on pkr.com for as little as $2, but some big names will be expected with WSOP bracelet holder James Dempsey, APT Macau winner Adrien Allain and EPT Villamoura winner Toby Lewis all having competed in previous PKR Live events. Andy Sherwood (pictured) was the man who won PKR Live V before the turn of the year and will be the man to beat this May, while Team PKR Pros Scott Shelley, who won a WSOPE bracelet last October, and EPT Snowfest winner Vladimir Geshkenbein will also be competing.

The event will come after PKR held their first London Social at the Fox Poker Club at the end of March. The event included a plethora of crazy sit and goes, free drinks, community competitions and a main event which was won by German player, INFRASCHALL, for $2,721.

PKR LIVE HEads To London

The poker world is often full of players performing challenges to raise money for charity and last month was no different as The

Fox Poker Club hosted a charity poker evening to help raise money for Villas4Veterans. The charity, founded by Royal Marine Mark Ormrod and Paratrooper Dave Tatlock, is hoping to raise £2million to buy a customised villa for seriously injured soldiers to visit during their R&R after gruelling rehabilitation programmes.

Founder Mark Ormrod lost both legs and his right arm on Christmas Eve 2007 in Afghanistan after stepping on an improvised explosive

device and praised the club for hosting the night: “We are doing all we can to raise money to buy a villa to help the recovery of all injured servicemen and women. Fox Poker Club has shown us overwhelming support by staging our charity poker tournament and we would like to send them out heartfelt thanks for believing in us and helping to raise money to help our injured soldiers and marines.” As is the case with most charities, organisers thought it best to secure the services of two models and so welcomed a bountiful pair from Platinum Lace to join in the fundraising fun. To find out more about the Villas4Veterans charity and to donate please visit www.villas4veterans.co.uk

see the northern lights, take a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon, seduce a pair of Swedish sisters; we’ve all read lists of 50

things to do before we die. But if any of us have ever wondered what we should be doing following our demise, one Colombian football fan showed us the way forward last month when he went to watch his beloved team in Cucata.

The 17-year-old Christopher Jacome had been shot dead whilst playing in a park

near his home the night before Cucuta Deportivo’s clash with Envigado. So instead of holding a vigil to remember their dead friend, members of the Barra del Indio fan club which the boy belonged to raided the funeral home and took the boy – and coffin – to the weekend’s game.

Police claim they were baffled as to how fans managed to sneak the coffin through entrance gates but stewards seemed perfectly happy to allow fans to pass around the coffin like a giant flag during the game. Incidentally, Cucuta Deportivo managed to come back from 1-0 down to secure a 1-1 draw and ensure Jacome’s first game as a dead fan didn’t end in defeat. Cucuta physio told reporters after: “This is the only part of the world where this can happen. They don’t let in the fanatics, but yes, a cadaver.” Now, where are those Swedish sisters?

NEWS

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after finally sealing the Bwin Party Gaming merge last month, shares in Bwin.Party Digital plummeted more than 20%

following news of a proposed new betting tax in Germany. The company’s shares were trading at 197.7p on Monday April 4th yet nose-dived to152.4p less than three days later. The proposed tax would affect Bwin.Party Digital were it to become one of the seven private betting companies to gain a national license in Germany as it would then face a 16.7% turnover tax, something which would deliver a devastating blow to the company’s profits.

The new law would also prohibit betting firms from taking in-play bets and would not allow them to advertise on television. Joint chief executive of Bwin, Norbert Teufelberger, warned that the new tax would severely damage the German betting industry, which currently contravenes EU law by permitting

only a handful of state run lotteries to operate and thus gain a monopoly, and said: “A proposed tax of 16% on the stakes placed in sports betting would make it impossible to offer a competitive product. The proposed model would fail to meet its objectives of channelling consumer demand, offering player protection and combating fraud.”

Bwin take around a quarter of their revenues from Germany, generating around £725million per year from the territory through unregulated bets they take from German customers. After merging with Party Gaming it became the world’s largest listed online gaming company. On the same day (April 7th) 888 Holdings’ shares were trading at 47.75 pence while Sportingbet PLC’s were trading at 51 pence.

Bwin.Party Digital´s shares rose to 170p following ‘Black Friday’, the US poker crackdown.

FIFTy THIngs To BEFoRE aFTER you dIE

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) confirmed last month that no action would be taken against Nicky Henderson

following the news the trainer bet against himself at the Cheltenham Festival. The Cheltenham Gold Cup winning trainer admitted during an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live that he made a big bet on his own yard not having a single winner at the Festival at 16/1. Henderson had spoken with Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie about how such a bet would be construed and both believed it would not be a breach of rules.

Under Rule (C) 64.1 of the Rules of Racing, which covers restrictions on laying a horse, the BHA states: “A trainer must not: Lay with a Betting Organisation any horse under his care or control to lose a race, instruct another Person to do so, or receive the whole or any part of any proceeds of such a lay.”

In defence of the decision not to charge Henderson, who in fact saddled two winners in Bob’s Worth and Long Run, the BHA’s Head of Communications Paul Struthers said: “As the Rule is currently worded, there is unlikely to have been a breach as there was not a separate lay of each runner. Whilst no one has suggested that Nicky Henderson would have wanted to train no winners at the Cheltenham Festival, it is the authority’s view that if the bet was placed, it was ill-judged and inappropriate.”

Edward Gillespie meanwhile, suggested Henderson’s wager of around £1,000 was an ‘emotional hedge bet’ which would merely provide a small financial comfort in the event Henderson trained no winners. The trainer is the all time leader at Cheltenham with 39 winners at the Festival. The rule is likely to be re-worded to prevent a similar incident occurring in future.

Henderson aVoids CHarge aFTer beTTing againsT HiMselF

bwin ParTy gaMing Merge geTs oFF To dreadFul sTarT

SPORTS BETTING

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The French Open may not be won by the most physically fit player, but by the individual who is mentally strong enough

A break of serve, a straight sets victory in the opening round or losing a seemingly innocuous hawk-eye review can have far greater ramifications in women’s tennis compared with men’s. And while Rafael

Nadal has enjoyed a relatively unchallenged reign of dominance on clay for what seems like an age, the same cannot be said of any female tennis player.

With eight different champions since the turn of the century, the French Open has proved a difficult venue to master for those born with an X-chromosome. In fact, only retired Belgian star Justine Henin has demonstrated any real consistency in the past decade – winning the competition three times on the spin between 2005 and 2007. As the second slam of the year draws ever closer punters will be aware that the battle for the French Open may not be won by the most gifted or physically fit player, but by the individual who is mentally strong enough for the siege of Stade Roland Garros.

Queen Of The CourtCurrent champion Francesca Schiavone came out on top in a belter of a final against Samantha Stosur last year, eventually winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-6. The World Number 5 may have upset the applecart when she became the first Italian ever to scoop a singles Grand Slam, but remains a rank outsider at 12/1 to defend her crown. Caroline Wozniacki – World Number 1 despite never lifting a Grand Slam trophy – is the bookmaker’s favourite at 9/2. At just 20 years of age, the Danish star made her slam debut in 2005, losing out to Kim Clijsters in the 2009 US Open final. The market leader undoubtedly possess the raw talent to break her major tournament duck and justify her position in the rankings, but Paris will by no means accommodate those who just don’t cut it mentally. Miss Sunshine, as she is affectionately known, may have powered her way to three

WTA Singles titles in each of the last three years but until she registers a first Grand Slam win, punters will find it hard to separate with their hard earned cash. Which brings us onto one of the most talked about women in world Tennis, comeback-kid Clijsters. In 2007 the Belgian powerhouse announced her retirement from professional Tennis. Two years later she was back on the court and storming towards a US and Australian Open double. Age 27, the World Number 2 is in her prime, adept with both forehand and backhand. Unfortunately for the deep hitting mum of one, she suffered a freak accident at a recent wedding which has effectively ended her hopes of competing in France.

The tennis ace, on a break from the game with wrist and shoulder problems, severly strained her right ankle ligaments at a friend´s reception. Should a miraculous recovery be on the cards, the Belgian will go at 7/1 to claim a fifth Grand Slam.

Francesca Schiavone

SPORTS BETTING

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With the football season in its final stages, Tony Cascarino assesses what went wrong for Chelsea, what went right for Stoke and Manchester City and whether we’ll be seeing Jose Mourinho any time soon. He also feels the Black Friday shutdown of US poker sites can only be bad for poker.

Poker Crackdown Bad For The GameI was amazed when I heard about the poker crackdown in America. I couldn’t actually believe it. The US department of justice are going after various individuals accusing them of money laundering, but the potential for taxation revenue from American poker players is absolutely huge. It’s such a popular game over there and to me it doesn’t make any sense closing down sites and stopping people from playing online poker.

It will undoubtedly affect the World Series and will be a big blow. There are the big name players who may not want to pay the big buy-ins themselves but who may not be put into the tournaments by their sponsors, plus there are the ordinary everyday American poker players who won’t be able to qualify online. Ever since satellites were created the WSOP has been so popular, but if Americans can only enter by paying the $10,000 the numbers will be drastically reduced. Las Vegas as a city is promoted by the US as the gambling centre of the world, so shutting down poker sites and saying they are illegal counteracts everything they say about Vegas.

It will also affect online European players over here as there will be fewer players in games and there will be less ‘dead’ money from stateside fish. It really did surprise me but I can’t imagine that in five years time

we’ll still be in the same situation as we are now. I think it will have to change again when the US government realises just how much money it can make from legalising online poker.

Pulis Seeking Revenge, City Seeking EverythingThe FA Cup final will be a great chance for Tony Pulis to get revenge over Manchester City at Wembley. Pulis was the manager at Gillingham, the club I started out for in 1981, when they took on Joe Royle’s team in the 1999 Division 2 play-off final and we all remember how dreadfully unlucky Gillingham were; losing their two goal lead in injury time before losing on penalties.

Meat Pie, Cup of Tea, Half Time Talk with Tony C

The Tony Cascarino Column

C fooTball 9 The likely lads Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino will be better equipped than most to deal with big tournament pressure having both competed in two World Cups each. During a prolific career which included

spells at Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, Sheringham bagged just under 300 goals. He was part of the famous 1999 Manchester United treble winning side and played in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups as well as forming half of the lethal SAS partnership at Euro ’96 with Alan Shearer. He is now a regular on the European Poker Tour and finished 5th in this season’s EPT Vilamoura for a €93,121 pay day.

Tony Cascarino meanwhile, scored just under 250 goals in a career that saw him play in England, Scotland and France whilst also competing for the Republic of Ireland at the Italia ’90 and USA ’94 World Cups. He partnered Sheringham up front during his time at Millwall and named his son Teddy after his former strike partner. The big front man became known in France as ‘TonyGol’ after scoring over 100 goals for Marseilles and Nancy in under 200 league games and it was in France where he learnt to play poker. He has since gone on to cash in several tournaments and proved his poker prowess when he won the 2009 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final for a cool £168,800. He is also a sponsored pro and represents Littlewoods Poker.

C hoCkeY9 going dutchUnless you have a keen interest in women’s hockey, chances are you won’t be overly familiar with Fatima de Melo. The 31-year-old is not to be underestimated however as she played just under 200 internationals for

POKER

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POKER

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While the penultimate Friday of April was marked by Good Friday this year, the Friday which preceded it will forever go down in poker

history as a defining moment in the game. Confusion over the poorly worded Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 has cast a shadow over the poker and gambling world for almost five years. But at the end of Friday 15th April 2011, that shadow was totally blackened.

The ramifications of what went down on ‘Black Friday’ will not become apparent for many months, but the US Federal Government’s move to seize the domain names of PokerStars, Full Tilt, UB.com and Absolute Poker and indict 11 men associated with the companies will remain the talk of the poker world for the foreseeable future.

In one fell swoop, reminiscent of the US military’s practice of shock and awe, the US Justice Department (DoJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) moved to close down the domain names of the aforementioned poker sites and go after their owners on charges of breaking gambling laws in the form of the UIGEA and the 1970 Illegal Gambling Business Act. They also - and

perhaps more seriously - were accused of bank fraud and money laundering.

The four websites are now in possession of the FBI* and the 11 men named in the 52-page indictment include PokerStars owners Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, Full Tilt Poker’s Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnik and Absolute Poker owners Scott Tom and Brent Beckley. Also named in the indictment are four men who work for payment processors accused of engineering elaborate methods for the poker companies to accept payment from American poker players – something which is forbidden under UIGEA – to avoid detection from banks and government prosecutors. These four men are: Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin and Chad Elie. An eleventh man, John Campos; vice president of SunFirst bank, has also been accused of carrying out illegal payments to the poker sites.

The FBI also acted to freeze 75 bank accounts in 14 different countries, with the owners of the sites potentially facing up to 30 years in prison along with fines of $1,000,000 and possibly ordered to repay almost $3 billion of profits considered illegal by the US state department. Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said: “As

charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some US banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”

The immediate results of all this, aside from the shutting down of the domain names, was that US poker players were no longer able to play on Full Tilt and PokerStars. European poker players on these sites will not be affected by the charges as far as playing on them goes, and the companies have assured European players their money is still safe and secure. It is merely the traffic flow to these sites that has been majorly affected with the stateside players no longer able to compete in games.

Yet as further details of the indictments unfold, there are currently more questions than answers; questions which may not be answered for some time to come.

The Shadow of Black friday whaT wenT down in US Poker Shake-UP

As FBI agents and Department of Justice employees launched charges of illegal gambling, bank fraud and money laundering against the three biggest US facing poker sites, April 15th will go down in the history books as a day to remember in the world of online poker, writes Fred Palley.

*Full Tilt have regained control of their .com domain name, and both Full Tilt and PokerStars are in the process of paying out US players.

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It makes you lose focus and become confused! Just as I will explain later how when we think good things are going to happen to us, they often do, if we believe we will have bad luck then that too will often prove to be the case. confidence and Self belief You don’t have to be the best player in the world to win at poker but you should be the best or at least one of the best at the table you choose to play on. Positive mental AttitudeThis is probably the most important factor when doing anything in your life, especially playing poker. For example, if you think that you are running bad and that you’re not going to win before you even sit down at a table, chances are you won’t.

If you put yourself in a good frame of mind and adopt a winning mindset, visualising yourself walking away with money and chips whilst keeping a clear head with a positive energy, you’ll have a far greater chance of walking away a winner. If you are unsure about this then cast your mind back to a day when you won something (or indeed anything at all). Do you remember everything about that event and that day? How you knew it was going to be your day and how everything was going right? How was your mindset? You probably took the odd bad beat well that day as it didn’t cause you a real problem.

Now think back to a bad day you had, where you lost a lot or just ran so bad that nothing you could do would be able to alter the situation. It may not even have been your fault; you just kept getting beaten by the deck.

How was your mind that day? Be truthful and ask yourself if you really were focused and in a positive frame of mind.

You probably won’t have been. You may have been thinking about the bad beats from the last session or the fight you’d had with the Mrs. You may have been fired from work or there may have been a whole load of other circumstances which may have come into play and ensured you were not 100% focused on being a winner. You probably also knew before you played that day that you weren’t going to win but you just wanted to go and try to prove yourself wrong. So what should you do and how does this all work?Well, firstly if you’re a non-believer in changing your mindset in the hope of it rubbing off on your play then it will be unlikely to have any affect and you should just carry on as you are. If you are a believer though and want to grow then you only need to look at players like Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari to see that self-belief and positive thinking is the way forward. And this has been the case for longer than I can remember.

People used to mock Phil for his weirdness and he is nothing short of a brat at the table. He is rather full of himself and truly believes he is the best player at any table

Something Superstitious

Follow me on Twitter @paulzimbler

so takes losing badly. Yet he has been doing affirmations for years and while he sends these powerful messages to the universe he is rewarded – with 11 WSOP bracelets you’ll have to agree he has been rewarded.

racesStop saying I can’t win a race and try to replace this with I win every race! Try to replace any negativity when you’re talking out loud at the table with positive speech only. This can be very hard when you’ve just taken a bad beat but if you find yourself doing it, replace it by repeating the sentence out loud and changing it into a positive phrase. I would love to know how you get on, feel free to email me paul@paulzimbler.com. I won’t make a bet with you as I know I’ll win and that’s not fair but you just wait for the change and see how your thoughts and speech can change your life. The mind is the most powerful thing in the world and it is a proven fact that we only use a small minority of our brain. There is so much more to explore in our minds yet we are so uneducated and often choose to ignore this and carry on in our everyday lives. There’s nothing wrong with this but we should all wish to grow and learn; looking inside for answers could help us in our everyday lives and turn us into winners.

To look back now and see how I was looking at life when things were bad and now seeing how my mindset is today is truly amazing. The difference is indescribable and if only one person reads this and I make a difference to their life then I will be happy.

What can i do to make my life clearer and achieve my goals?9 Vision boards9 Affirmations9 Meditation9 Neuro-linguistic programming9 Breathing patterns - breathing in the good

energy and blowing out all the negativity9 Exercise: It releases endorphins which

make you feel good. 9 Drink plenty of water: It keeps the brain

oxygenated and helps thought process with a clearer mindset.

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Profitable bankroll ManageMent

The Sultans Of Swing

poker

Christian Zetzsche stresses the importance of bankroll management for not only those who aim to become winning players, but for the new players so crucial to bringing money to the poker tables.

A t first the title might sound very familiar to you and indeed there is a song called ‘The Sultans of Swing’ by Dire Straits, which is partly responsible for the article

as well. But what does this song title actually have to do with playing poker? Well, we all have to deal with swings because most of the time it is no straight movement up or down – even the best players don’t win all their tournaments or hands where they have been in front on the flop.

As a poker player, we always think we are far better than we are in reality and obviously must be the best player at our table as well. We usually expect the best and fear the worst, but that doesn’t always mean we make the most logical choice because emotions might play a certain role and have an impact on our decisions. Is there any way to avoid that or at least minimize the risk? The following article is a little guide to risk and bankroll management, one of the most important strategies and guidelines for a successful performance at the tables in the long run.

Knowing one’s own limits and being prepared before the game starts is one of the keys to playing profitable poker; although even the best strategy cannot guarantee a win or that you will be able to make profit while playing poker. But it does indeed increase the odds that this will be the case, because with the right strategy you can reduce the influence of luck on your game. It is not possible to completely shut down the luck factor, after all poker is a card game and you cannot see the hole cards of your opponents until the showdown.

Bank Roll Management (BRM) is a more traditional approach to ensure that the player doesn’t risk the whole bankroll at one shot and can build up consistently, it reduces the risk of going broke but at the same time it also cuts down the potential profit as well because in general you play with less money during the sessions. Most recommend the 5% rule, where you just risk 5% of your bankroll at a time when you play, and most players get annoyed because it

often means that they have to play on the lower limits.If you play multiple tables or tournaments and Sit’n’Go at the same time, you obviously have to divide it by the number of tables to find the correct amount that you can risk. Reasonably, 5% is probably pretty low and most players also feel comfortable with 10% as well. The percentage is just supposed to give you an indication when you can move up in limits or when you are supposed to move down. At no time you should risk more than 25% of your bankroll at once, even though a lot of players love to take shots to get the bankroll up quickly.

Taking shots is not always a bad thing because it also depends on the situation, online poker sites offer buddy lists where you can tag people that have been profitable for you so far. Even though it is not exactly wise to risk more than said percentage, it can be worth the risk when you know how the opponent plays. If you have an edge over specific players and know it can be very profitable, it does make sense to take the risk, even though it often depends on the variance.

Lately there has been the tendency to share the cost for taking shots with other players when you know that you have an edge, but can’t afford the full buy-in. The profit will be shared and it is getting more and more common on the higher stakes, but that is something that you will probably never see on TV. The TV production itself wants to create a certain thrill and make the action more appealing to new players to bring in “fresh blood”. With the current economy, it is important to attract new players, since otherwise no new money will find its way onto the sites.

The difference for the new and inexperienced players though, is that the pros on TV have been doing it for years and often base their decisions on previous experience and gut feeling. New players think they can do exactly the same and wonder why they get called. You can get away and win a lot of small pots, just to go broke on a big bluff and the professional players are aware of that and take this risk on purpose.

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poker

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Balancing those potential swings and getting used to them can be a difficult task, especially when it happens for the first time. This doesn’t just include the downswings when you lose a lot of money, but also a very profitable upswing where a lot of players tend to think they are better than they are in reality and move up in limits quickly to win even more. This rush of “feel-good” symptoms always cuts down the reasonable thinking and it is pretty common to try and extend it even more, because people are greedy.

BRM sets specific limits to countervail these effects but it may take a long time to understand and follow these guidelines; most players let emotions take control and don’t know when to stop. There is a strategy that some people might know from the stock market, it is called a “stop-loss” and defines exact limits when to get rid of shares. The percentage is set and when a certain limit for loss or profit is reached, the system automatically launches the disposition.

Unfortunately there is no such “stop-loss” function within the human mind - or when there is we often simply ignore it. No matter

how many times you tell yourself that you have to leave the table, sometimes it appears to be impossible and it requires a lot of common sense and self control to stick with it. Of course potential profit is unlimited and people are always attracted by money, especially when they can get more of it. But it can happen so fast that you burn your fingers and have to restart from scratch.

The first time a player goes broke is a lesson and should be a warning signal for the future, but not all of them learn from it and 90% of the players actually lose in the long run. The other 10% may not necessarily follow BRM, but they must be doing something right. As long as you only risk what you can reasonably afford to lose, you will be on a good way to becoming a profitable player. Bank Roll Management might be boring at the beginning and kills a bit of the fun and excitement, but in the long run most people appreciate it, because it could have been a lot worse if they didn’t follow it.

No matter how good or bad someone is at the poker tables, the swings will always be a part of the game because you can’t always

win. You can only make the best and most logical decision and try to get your money and chips in ahead, luck will always play a certain role. But there are a lot of ways to minimize the influence of luck, and Bank Roll Management is one of them. It also ensures that you can enjoy the poker experience longer and protects new players from going broke just quitting, even though they haven’t even been aware of why they actually lost.

The vast majority of players don’t win millions at the poker tables, be it online or at the casino. But that is not always necessary to stay motivated and keep playing, as long as you know your own limits and follow certain guidelines to make sure that you can play again. Once you are broke or have lost all your chips in the tournament, that opportunity is gone for the moment and you will have to wait for the next time. Sometimes it does help to call it a day and try again next time because if you still have the funds you can rebuild that again. Being profitable in the long run always includes setbacks, coolers or setups. That is part of the game and makes it so interesting for everyone who is willing to take it seriously.

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Picture this, you’re the frontman of an incredibly successful reggae band, you’ve sold over seventy million records, released 24 albums and been with the group for 28 years, and one day a lovely record

company executive offers you a seven-figure sum to consider doing a solo project, you’d do it wouldn’t you?

Which is exactly what reggae icon Ali Campbell, ex-frontman of UB40 did, and it was a decision that would turn out to completely alter his musical career.

Since his departure from the group in early 2008 Ali has more than proved his worth as a solo artist, having sold-out a star-studded night at The Royal Albert Hall and released three hugely successful albums, his voice alone arguably brought reggae to the British masses. However, despite his solo success Ali never planned to break off from the band and pursue a solo career.

Explaining how he originally only had the band’s best interests in mind, Campbell confessed: “I really never wanted to go solo, I originally thought a solo album would be a great way to rejuvenate a bit of interest in the band and bring the focus back onto UB40, because we had made 24 albums by then. I think interest in the band was sort of waning and it seemed like a great way to bring a bit of morale back to the group.”

Despite this, not everything was going well for Ali, he suffered on-going problems with the band’s management, and when his debut solo album shot straight into the UK Top 10 and he was declined the chance to promote it, for Ali it was the final straw: “I gave the management six months advance warning telling them I wanted to plug the album after it sold so well, and they turned round and told me straight off that I couldn’t, so I basically turned round to them and said well f*ck you then, and left.”

Campbell’s departure followed the slow and gradual demise of the relationship between Ali and the rest of the group; a result of conflicting attitudes about how they should record, be managed and, it’s fair to say,

a bit of envy creping in from certain band members about Ali’s solo achievements. Despite the fraction Ali wasn’t perturbed by this, it’s obvious as he speaks fondly of the future that his attitude is far more cup half full than half empty.

“On my own I’m loads happier, I can do everything twice as fast, with UB40 we were all self-taught and doing anything was like pulling teeth really. But I’m loads happier now even though I never thought I would be. The main thing I’m excited about is being back on the road because I’m playing tracks from my most recent album ‘Great British Songs’.”

If you missed the release of Ali’s album ‘Great British Songs’ late last year, it is as good as it reads on paper, a collection of chart hits ranging from the The Rolling

Stones to an ingenious reworking of Gerry Rafferty’s classic ‘Baker Street’; an album that is merely a side project that took Ali ten minutes to assemble a playlist for and just under a week to record with the great Sly and Robbie in Jamaica. It’s when Ali talks about music in terms of it being a hobby rather than a job that his die-hard enthusiasm shines through: “What keeps me interested I think is my continual love of reggae music, and the great think about it is that it’s always changing. I mean, I love it so much that I have to have stuff like the newest rhythm and the hottest bass lines and I need to know the next new drum line. I’m just totally obsessed and I still love it, and I love promoting it; it’s just been in my blood since I was ten years old.”

Come May Ali will be hitting the road and filling out venues across the UK with ‘The Dep Band’, including a date at London’s Indig02, a 2,500 capacity venue that is quickly becoming a favourite of any touring artists today. And something he is incredibly excited about: “Loads of bands knock it but for me London has always been a great crowd to play to and I think the Indig02 is one of the best new venues around. And to be honest, at a time when so many venues are closing it’s always good to have somewhere to play at all.”

So what next for a man who it seems despite some struggles has done it all? Well a tour of the highly acclaimed ‘Reggae Britannia’ show that premiered earlier this year at London’s Barbican Centre is on the cards, as is a new album of original material from Ali - although don’t expect that anytime this year. Like the Jamaican vibes that so encapsulate the man, when it comes to recording he’s suitably laid back: “When you become an established artist there’s less of a pressure to keep drilling out the albums, which works out great for me because I wouldn’t want to ever feel like this was a chore, reggae music is my life.”

Despite Ali’s uncompromising attitude, obvious love for reggae and his undeniable skills as a musician, what makes him perhaps most interesting is how modest he can be at times, none more so than when it comes to discussing his own music. He claims: “To be honest, I’m not sure people are really Ali Campbell fans as much as they musically just really love reggae. But that’s cool you know, I don’t mind, I’m here to spread the word about reggae. If people hear me and then go and pick up a Peter Tosh album or something then that’s great!”

So there you have it, Ali Campbell ex-UB40 member, King of British Reggae, Ambassador of Reggae Internationally and really bloody modest. A man who has taken risks and followed his instincts, all in the name of the music he so sincerely loves.

Ali Campbell plays The Indig02 on 6th May, visit www.the02.co.uk or www.alicampbell.net for more information.

To be honest, I’m not sure people are really Ali Campbell fans as much as they musically just really love reggae”

LIFESTYLE

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Move over old Spice, There’S A New Girl iN TowNNow that the nation’s favourite couple have finally tied the knot, the nation’s second favourite couple can at last attempt to reclaim their rightful spot on the front pages of the newspapers. David and Victoria Beckham have confirmed they are expecting a baby girl and a host of betting markets have opened up in anticipation of the new baby posh.

The biggest market rests on what name Becks and Posh will give to their new daughter, with Luna the 9/4 favourite ahead of Vida at 4/1 and Angel at 10/1. But unless you happen to have been the night porter in whichever hotel it was that the Beckham’s conceived baby posh in an untold night of passion, second guessing the Beckham’s on names can be a bit of a lottery. With that said a cheeky flutter on the chosen career path of posh baby spice may be a more tempting market.

To break the family mould and bag a UK number one hit single – a musical feat that has thus far proved too much for her mother - is priced at a tempting 16/1, while emulating her father and playing for her country is 100/1. Baby Becks must compete in a competitive women’s England international to satisfy the bookmakers. Other options available are for her to win a Best Actress Oscar at 100/1 or to become a fashion designer with a full catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week at 40/1.

GeT Your BeT oN ThiS April GX scans the betting markets to see what might tempt your money away from the sports pitches