[MUST SEE]******* BBC- Panorama On Texas Hold'em.

[buddha01]

<font color="red">CAN BE WATCHED ONLINE AFTER AIRING VIA WEB CAST, LINK BELOW. </font>
TRANSMISSION INFORMATION
Online Gambling will be broadcast on Sunday 26 November on bbc.co.uk/panorama and on BBC One at 2215.




Info:
Panorama reporter Declan Lawn gave $2,000 of his own money to professional gambler Matthew Hopkins to find out if he could double it at online poker games which are played in US dollars.

Two years ago 20-year-old Matthew packed in his part time job at his local fish and chip shop in Camarthen to play internet poker full time. He currently earns up to $30,000 a month.

Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ma/default.stm
Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ma/6165948.stm

[Spy Dog]

This is a 2+2 poster, who posts frequently in the NL forums. I'm not sure he wants to be 'outed', but he's a very solid player. It will be interested how he is portrayed.

[stigmata]

Thanks for bringing that to my attention OP.

It might be interesting if Matthew could write about his experiences with the program and his thoughts on it after it has aired.

[stigmata]

"Panorama reporter Declan Lawn gave $2,000 of his own money to professional gambler Matthew Hopkins to find out if he could double it at online poker games"


I hate this kind of crap, and it bodes badly for the program if they just took such a sterotypical approach to the program.

[fordj]

What a shoddy piece of journalism this was. Lumped in poker with all other types of gambling including horse racing, kinda like comparing a lager shandy to crack cocaine. Even though the program’s main focus was on poker the example they gave of the women who stole from her company to feed her addiction had absolutely nothing to do with poker, ludicrous.

Gave the impression that most players play at $1000 tables, erm not really, logon to any poker software and you’ll see only a small percentage of players at these levels. Oh yeah also completely failed to mention the underhand way the anti-gambling legislation was passed through congress. Apparently it was a wave of public concern that prompted this legislation not the action of a few nutcase Republicans.

The reporter also sited the example of two Austrian casino owners being arrested in France as an example of other countries concerns over this issue. Actually these arrests were due to casino owners trying to tap into France’s tightly controlled closed market, something the EU is not happy about, and had nothing to do with a crackdown on internet gambling.

This reporter should probably work for the tabloids as facts seem of little concern to him. Sorry about the long post but this really p***ed me off.

[buddha01]

Well I watched, notice how the guy did his part, he bright it up from 2k to 4.4k USD. So basicly he did it.

I understand it got it up to 6k, looks to me like he then started playing tired, he did not look at all fresh towards the end.

Once you get it to 6k you just play your A game and play smart and you wil be up another 4k in side of two nights.

Reading between the lines it looks like England is going to be doing a lot of policing for the USA, if you are in the states and you play via the UK it will be seen. The UK has a heap of inteligence going on behind the sences, banking, finace, monies.

Any one else watch it?

[edfurlong]

[ QUOTE ]
blah blah blah, I'm pretty slow.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

[Nietzsche]

The reporter is a liar. He wrote the story beforehand and then made the pieces fit together. Towards the end it is very apparent that he actually wants to lose. He might even have told the player to do so. Otherwise what's with all the All-ins all of a sudden?

Also, he did not lose the 2K. BBC covered it for sure. Another lie. If not, he saw it as an investment in his career.

[stigmata]

I think the reporter wanted a "bang or bust" ending because it's more exciting that way. I'm sure the BBC did not cover the money.

I think true came across well enough. However, I do think it should have been made clearer that it was the reporters decision making that led them to busto, rather than true.

I think they could have been more balanced with regard to showing other type of winning gamblers (handicapers, scalpers, bonus chasers, advantage gamblers) and also the vast majority of people who only lose what they can afford (e.g. weekend sports betters, lottery players etc). E.g. those who enjoy the variance, the thrill of gambling, and the alure of the big win. I'm not convinced that this type of gambling is a mjor threat to society, but the program never really adressed this issue.

Instead they just made it a dichotomy between the Big Winners (the site owners) and the Big Losers (idiots who steal half a million to fund their habit).

As a side point, I have no doubt that woman would have gone to prison had she been a man.

[Abramovic]

Matthew seemed to play at 500NL right from the start, even though he had 4 buyins. Does anyone know if he played lower limits, because he wasn't certain to double the money playing at that level. I noticed a copy of Miller's/Sklansky's new No limit book appeared in it too.