RIP NPF

RIP NPF

Monday 9th May at approx 17.00 and myself and my son Scott make the decision to close down the Newcastle Poker Forum. Sad day for local poker and the local community we grew and developed but tbh not a very difficult decision for us to make. The forum had in our opinion went in a different direction to what we wanted and was becoming a total pain in the arse to run due to certain factors & elements. Dont get me wrong in that we achieved so much in the 3 years it has been running with the biggest main thing being the huge circle of friendships we created from all different types of people which also brought together friendships that may never have materialised without the NPF. We created unique games in an atmosphere we wanted poker to be played and added what we believed was how poker games should be played by seeing smiling faces and a social event based around a stupid game of cards we love to try and conquer. We also gave the local community a strong platform to vent their opinions which eventually moved casinos to sit up and listen and offer some of the best value games ever seen in the area and probaly some of the best value games anywhere in the UK coupled with giving them a large captive customer audience to freely market their games and services all free of charge

Why did we close it down ? Simple really in that we stopped enjoying doing it and it was beginning to effect our business, our personal and our family/home life. As such time to move on and I hope all those involved each took something positive away from the NPF and everything we did and Im sure alot of players locally are much better off for it
I d like to thank so many people as theres so many great people at the NPF but a few especially I would like to mention are as follows:

Scott my son for his foresight to see the need for the NPF and his dedication and hard work he put into it which most wont even be able to understand the amount involved.

Phil McNally who in the early days of the forum was a real driving force and took the forum in the direction we wanted as he was one of the very few people that fully understood our purpose and reasons for creating it

Mr Entertainment Craig Foggo who was always the life & soul of any party and always there for anything we asked for and someone I became very close friends with.

Stumpy who I got to know properly at the Caribbean Poker Cruise which then developed into a very strong friendship afters playing against him many times but not knowing him at all and someone I brought into the Dobbas to such great success

Looseman my accountant who contributed so much at the NPF and then developed a great squad of real true genuine people in the Radgies which included such huge characters like Koyte, Apokerlypse, and Smoggie who then devloped the very succesful Smoggie Online League on poker stars on Wednesdays

Dreamdobb who works for me and simply carried on his enthusiasm from when he played football for me into playing poker. Some great moments of daftness never to be forgotten there

To the many of the younger element who have been on msn to me and said their thanks Id like to say it was very much appreciated and know at least some actually do realise how much the NPF taught them about not just poker but about genuine people and true friends.

Last but not least has to be The Cardguard Kid who became a very good friend of mine but who simply gave his lot to the NPF and made me enjoy so much of what we did together because it was always fun and enjoyable to do. Myself & Scott take our hats off to you Steve Wills especially