Blog&Go Contest: THE RESULTS!

The Blog&Go contest, with a €1,500 package to Battle of Malta to win, is now over!

Thank you all for your participation.

No more suspense, here are the 9 qualified for our private Blogger Final Tournament that will decide who will be the official RKH reporter in Malta!

Congratulations to:

@Kat Arnsby  
@Skilful 
@Jonny2192 
@DecoGTX 
@William Calder 
@Santo Abate 
@Allin 
@Zia Gabry 
@Tonny Fold 

Here is the final ranking after the #BOMinterview mission:

Be ready for the tournament on Monday 26 October!

Please contact @Ina Rkh or @Rémi Rkh with your Betsson nicknames and link your accounts if you haven't already.

If you still don’t have a Betsafe/Betsson/TrioBet/NordicBet account, click on the “Download” button at the top of this page.

Don’t forget the Final Satellite, on Sunday 25 October, that can win you the OTHER PACKAGE, worth €2,500!

More info here.

See you soon on Betsson Group!

#BOMINTERVIEW

Hello Ranking Hero! Great to be reporting here from the sunny beach in Malta.

It's been a tough little run but I've finally caught up with none other that Fabrizio Fontana this years BOM Winner. Here's what he had to say about perhaps the most memorable headsup match of BOM history.

Skilful: So Fabrizio I finally manage to catch up with you, how has your morning been?
Fabrizio: Ahahaha it's been good, yes? I have had so much fun.Drink Drink Drink all night, and now the sun and sand. These fishes are really crazy in the sea. Ahaha here little fishes.. here come on...

Skilful: Yes... they sure are Fabrizio... It was quite a spectular end to the tournment, Luca seemed annoyed at you during the match, was this a deliberate ploy on your part?
Fabrizio: Ploy? What is ploy? Who is ploy?

Skilful: I mean to say, did you get him a little angry on purpose?
Fabrizio:  'bella fiche', 'bella fiche' , 'bella fiche', 'bella fiche' ahahaa 'bella fiche'.

Fabrizio: ... I think I behaved good, no? Ahahahha
Skilful: You sure had a lot of energy! We have a clip would you like to see it?

Fabrizio see's an interesting rock in the sea, and rushes out to get it , bailing in fully clothed and then continuing deeper wading out to his neck... shouting behind him "sure.. ahaha show me , show me...." Skilful pulls out his IPAD, finding the clip and heads out to meet Fabrizio who is now back near the shoreline paddling in the sea...

Skilful: You put on quite a show Fabrizio!

Fabrizio: aha yes Luca said he doesn't want to play with me I am idiot... I am an idiot! But now I am a rich idiot ahahahahahha!

Skilful: Haha Fabrizio, do you have any advice for anyone back home, or any of the hundreds of Hero's back at RKH headquarters who will be reading this write up?

Fabrizio: Yes! Always bring a chicken, and ALWAYS play with two unsuited cards, you got double the flush draw possibilitiesssss!

Skilful: Thanks Fabrizio, congratulations on such a memorable victory!

Fabrizio: AHAHAHA... 'bella fiche', 'bella fiche' , 'bella fiche', 'bella fiche'

#BOMinterview

All here at Rankinghero would like to congratulate our BoM champion mr banzai himself Mark Duguid 

MD . THANK YOU RKH 

QUADZILLA : Did u think at the start any of this would be even possible to beat such a strong field an come away victorius in front of friends an family 

MD: I have always believed in my game an on my day think i can beat just about anyone except REDLACw1 of course , my mentor an hero .

QUADZILLA : LOL so are u dedicating your win to redlacw1 then ?

MD: yeah shouts out to the BATMAN hhha

QUADZILLA :Is there any extravagant purchases u will be thinking of having ?

MD: Well i am going to buy a ferrari an drive it into a swimming pool always wanted to do that lol 

QUADZILLA: sounds good , will you be coming back next year to defend your title ?

MD: Of course an i will be bringing the whole ace-high poker team next year so the rail will be even more loud an excitable for sure 

QUADZILLA: just a couple more questions before you get mobbed by fans an friends an whisked away to party an celebrate your sucess here today , what is the single most important piece of advice u can give to poker players travelling abroad looking to capture their first trophy ?

MD: Just go for it dont hold back have no regrets an have a plan an stick to it oh an have the great support i had from Ace-High Poker Group and from the wonderful team at rankinghero .

QUADZILLA: And finally what was the hand that won it for you ?

MD: No surprises for guessing this part i had 79 spades an insta jammed on my opponent who snapped me off with big slick ace-king suited diamonds which obviously i wasnt thrilled at seeing but wasnt worried as i know the power of 79 spades an sure enough i just flop him dead no sweat nothing just casually flop a staright flush of 8 ten jack spades an that was it game over we gotta NEW champion an his name is BANZAI AKA MARK DUGUID THE BoM WINNER 2015 

 #BOMinterview 

After 3 days of battle, and a prolonged heads-up match, the Battle of Malta Champion is decided!

JORDAN HOOPER (WHOM?) WINS!

It was looking as if BoM2015 would finish the same way as 2014, with a hard-stop to the proceedings as the heads up battle between World-Class female player Maria Ho and the unknown, unwashed, Jordan Hooper, became a fight that we all thought security would have to eventually break up.

Hooper went into the heads-up match at a 4/1 chip disadvantage, as Ho had walked all over the final table since the first hand. She put him to it straight away on A106 and he called with 10-9, which was good and stayed that way.

Hooper was highly aggressive from the first hand onwards, although Maria is not a girl to be bullied. There was a lot of flop play, with neither player giving anything away, in terms of chips, or in terms of how they were feeling.

If either player was feeling the strain, neither was showing it.

In the final hand, Ho opened 3x and Hooper 3 bet ½ pot.
Maria called and saw the Ac, Qc, 10h flop.

Hooper checked, and Ho bet, Hooper clicked it and Ho flatted.

Turn Qd. Hooper bet ½ pot and Ho flatted.

River 2c. Hooper shipped all in for just over the pot.

Ho instantly called and flipped 1010, Hooper turned AQ for a higher boat; he only had Maria covered by 2 big blinds, showing how close this match had been.

Maria Ho has amassed over $2.5mil in tournament winnings worldwide, Hooper won his BoM seat in a prop bet against his friend Andy Thompson, who bet him that he couldn't eat 14 Jaffa Cakes in 60 seconds. Hooper succeeded in dispatching the Jaffa Cakes, and it turned out the be a very sweet payday indeed, with Hooper netting £125000 for his poker/biscuit efforts.

I caught up with Hooper just after he collected his trophy. He was blatantly hitting on Mario Ho, so I thought I'd rescue her.

Kat Arnsby: Jordan! Congratulations, you must be very excited.

Jordan Hooper: What are you doing here? Do I owe you money?

KA: Probably. How does it feel to be the BoM 2015 champion, Hoops?

JH: Erm... I'm not sure. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Have I really just won, like, more than a hundred grand? Can you pinch me? Ow! Not that hard!

KA: You've done brilliantly, Maria Ho is a formidable opponent. How do you think you managed to beat her?

JH: Like any tourney, there was a lot of luck involved. I think she may have been a bit over-confident when we went heads up, I mean, I would have been in her shoes, but sometimes it's not a great mindset to have. When we went heads up, I was ready for a fight, she was ready for a walk; I think I had a better mentality.

KA: Do you think she underestimated you?

JH: I do a bit, to be honest. I'm not a high-stakes player normally, but once you're in a game, you're in, you can only bring what you've got. I may only be in my twenties, but I have played a massive amount of poker hands, because I'm an online grinder. I think it can be easy to look at someone like me and think I'm a nobody, but sometimes, a quiet nobody can be a dangerous opponent.

KA: People always say online is nothing like live; but you think your online experience helped you with this tournament?

JH: Of course! In many ways, hand experience is hand experience. There is something to be said for becoming comfortable in the live environment, but I achieved that in low-stakes live games.

KA: There seems to be more and more tournament brands including buyins at the level of £500, or thereabouts. Do you think this is good for the game?

JH: Absolutely! To be able to turn £500 into £125000 over 3 days is very tempting for any player. It's a very inclusive buyin level. Satellites can be really cheap, and not time consuming; I think it's a savvy level of buyin for major brands to run.
I love the mixed field, there's pros, online micro-stakes qualifiers and rich fish everywhere at once!

KA: Is that you now, Hoops, you going to be a wealthy fish?

JH: Not at all. I'll probably increase my roll and stakes slightly, but I'm not an idiot, no point playing way outside my skill level and doing the lot in 3 months, is there? I think that is a mistake a lot of young players make, and I'm not going to fall into that trap.
I'm going to spend my winnings mainly on cheap women and expensive drugs.

KA: Sounds pretty sensible to me; you've got my number. Can you give any advice to other low-stakes players who are looking to emulate what you've done here?

JH: Play the game. Talk about the game. Think about the game. For me, it's mainly about not living in denial. If you keep losing in certain spots, find out why.
If you want to be a successful player, you have to spend more time learning about probabilities than complaining about results, it's that simple.

KA: Very wise words. Is there a Mrs Hooper who will be enjoyed the fruits of your gaming?

JH: Well, there might have been, if you hadn't interrupted me chatting up Maria. Piss off now, eh?

I let Hooper get back to what he's trying to do, and take a seat at the bar.
There are staff moving tables, and packing up equipment, and the poker room has that “after holidays” feel.

I don't want to leave, because as soon as I do, it will be over, the Battle won, the spoils divided, and the excitement spent for another year.

The Battle of Malta will return next year, will you be here? Will you be ready for Battle?

Well this awkward, I won the Battle of Malta and I also am acting as a reporter for RKH.Well here we go I will know interview me.

Hope they are not right and the first sign of madness is talking to yourself.

Jonathan(reporter)

Congratulations on your win, How did you get here in the first place?

Jonny2192

Thanks, I won a seat through a competition I entered, I did some fictional
blog entries and won my way to a 9 man SNG.

I managed to take that down for my seat.

I would like to say thanks to rankinghero.com for another great oppurtunity.

Jonathan(reporter)

Did you enjoy the tournament and would you recomend it to anyone else?

Jonny2192

I had a great time, would never had been able to pay to play for that amount
so really happy to have won a place, with me winning I will be back next year.

The Vip player party was excellent, I even did an article on it, but not sure
if I imagined it all as it has been suggested I could have been on the wrong kind of mushrooms.

Definetly recomend to anyone to try and get here, its an excellent event.

Jonathan(reporter)

Thanks for your time and good luck in future games, now lets go spend the
winnings together.

#BOMinterview 

How Monty Python Could Have Won a Battle of Malta Package

The third written assignment for poker reporter wannabes in the Rankinghero blog contest is an imaginary winner's interview with the future Battle of Malta champion. 

If you're still working on your entry, here's some inspiration from the great Monty Python. It could be as simple as that to get a seat in that 9-handed Sit&Go and play for the €1,500 VIP package :)

#RoadtoMalta #BOMinterview

Blog & Go Contest Part 3: Interview the BOM winner! - Ranking Hero The buy-in for the Battle of Malta Main Eventwww.rankinghero.com

#BOMinterview 

hello guys,

presentation of the winner of the Battle of Malta

Winner: Jennifergtx

Hand: 10♠A♥

interview by report:

you speak English?

No, не, Я из России !

sorry guys, impractical !!!

Blog & Go Contest Part 3: Interview the BOM winner!