About me and Betsharks.co.uk
I have enjoyed gambling in one form or another for along as I can remember. From visits to family in Leeds at Christmas time at aged around 4 or 5 playing cards for real money! fair enough it was half pence pieces in those days, but it was an early introduction to the World of gambling, whether i liked it or not.
I always remember strongly sitting on my Grandma’s knee in front of a pub fruit ,machine watching the reel go round, see her gamble, nudge and collect. I have no idea what age i was then, but I was young and it is a memory. I just wish I could remember the fruit machine!
By the tender age of around 13 I was into playing cards against traveling contractors who stayed in our town through the week and went home at the weekend. I made a lot of money from these guys who were just out and out gamblers, I however had pretty much honed a craft playing cards, reading people and knowing odds better than anyone I knew. The game of choice back then in the late 80’s early 1990’s was 3 card brag. I made a a site all about card games and 3 card brag in particular which you can see here www.playbrag.com
My first Bookies Adventure!
I wasn’t one for going to school, so teachers said If i didn’t want to go then don’t. I would distract everyone if i found the lesson boring so it was for the best for everyone else that I wasn’t there. I did however do a few lessons I did enjoy, one of which was Maths as i’ve always had a thing for numbers, probably going back to playing cards as a kid.
I was 14 when i first took a step over the bookies threshold, It was our small towns Ladbrokes, up some steps and into the World of newspapers on the walls, tiny pens and old men.
It was a completely different World to me, I would have thought anyone that age would feel out of place, I felt right at home! Money was flowing back and forth over the counter. Odds were shown all over screens, the chance to bet and win was right in front of me, and I took it with both hands.
You may be wondering how at 14 I was able to go into the bookies? In 1990 no one really cared that much. That plus i had an air of confidence about me that meant i never got questioned. I was the one who would buy all the alcohol on Fridays for me and my mates to drink, no one in the off licence batted an eyelid.
You may also be wondering where I git money at 14 to gamble? I won it! Playing cards on a Thursday night made me more money than most people would make in a week. That plus I was hardworking myself, 3 paper rounds in the morning, a milk round, and a potato round bouncing around in the back of a van delivering potatoes and veg to peoples houses 3 night a week.
I loved it in the bookies, listening to old timers reminiscing, the smell of some and the money. I was there mkst days at some point, a lot more than i was at school anyway.
I got to know everyone, and pretty soon i was working out how much they had win or would win on all kids of bets. Lucky 15’s, lucky 31’s, lucky 63’s, trebles, each way bets, yankees, round robins and more. That was pretty much my role which carried on and is still the same 27 Years on! That’s why i made betsharks.co.uk all about betting tools and made a bet calculator to help everyone work out their winnings on multiple bets. I stated with a lucky 15 calculator as that is always popular and as i got asked for more – I added them.
I’ve placed probably hundreds of thousands of bets in my life by now, and i seem to have a knack of winning. Obviously not everytime, that’s impossible, but i do seem to have the luck and that’s helped me not go broke!
Bet sharks is also about Casino and Poker Why?
As i got older and settled down my visits to the bookies became less, in fact i never go in now, but i do bet online.
In 2003 when poker came across from the USA I tried it the same as most did. I believe this is down to the craft I learned and earned while younger but I took to it easily, and was very profitable. While everyone was trying to win tournaments with thousands of people in, I was on the cash game tables making money left, right and center.
I played online and live at grosvenor casinos, online I was the most profitable players on ladbrokes poker by some stretch, in live cash games I more often than not won a £1000+ each time I visited the casino, but living in the middle of nowhere it was a trek to get there, so online I was happy.
the thing with poker is: people watch it on TV and try to emulate the players. This won’t work! Those players you see have been through the ringer, they have earned thie place on that table by hours, and hours pf practice, losing money, seeing every situation, seeing how tens of thousands of people react to certain situations. You can’t be as good as the best unless you earn it. You can get lucky in poker and win a tournament, but overall you’ll lose.
You might pretend to be Ronaldo kicking a football around, but you would never play for Real Madrid and be idolized, be realistic! Ronaldo put in his graft. He trained harder than the rest, he was there early and stayed late. All people see if the money and flashy cars. He didn’t get there by luck, it was through hard work.
So in a nutshell that’s why I introduced an online casinos and online poker section to the bet sharks website. Casino games go hand in hand with my maths, and obviously slots are just new fruit machines and much more advanced.
poker as above I love, leaned and win at. I only ever entered one large tournament which was a GUKPT main event over 3 days. I came 4th and I shouldn’t have, got a bad beat but that’s gambling and the way it goes. In a cash game that wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have been out, I’d just get more money and carry on 🙂
One thing is for sure. I know what I’m talking about, I have played every game i review, won or lost on every bet you can place, and been dealt all possible hands and seen pretty much everything card game related.
Welcome to Bet Sharks!