Don't know if this has a) been posted, b) is relevant since it only involves poker players, not actually poker c) is in the right forum, but....

This thread on another poker forum is all about a staking for sports betting where the horse ran off with the funds. I've linked to the last page, but if you've got time, I'd start from the beginning. His friends all start defending him, but then the truth is uncovered.

It makes for fascinating reading, if destroying your faith in humanity. I've met the guy in my local cardroom, he seemed nice. An astonishing con.

Cliffs: Man gets staked for sports betting on Betfair to trade on soccer matches. Actually spends it all on lavish lifestyle. Lie after lie follows.

900 posts of this ****? More cliffs imo

page 1 seems to start at some weird point, where does it begin?

He should have bet it all on Serbia to win over Germany, ducy?

link?

Cliffnotes:

1) Neil Blatchly a.k.a Blatch is a popular and well known UK Poker Player and very popular on the Blonde forum and is known as a high limit sports trader on Betfair

2) He somehow manages to amass a trading bankroll of £60-70,000 from over 40 investors, 3 of which are high roller UK Poker Players and invest 10k each. He has everyones implicit trust.

3) He does well from August to January and is upto £85,000.

4) He keeps on doing well for the rest of the seasom making small profits and some small losses start creeping in but the investors are still delighted, hey its better than money in the bank.

5) He says he will keep this going into the World Cup if people wish but some people object and request their shares. He delays these people several times so suspicions at last start to arise.

6) A poster calls Arbboy registers on the Blonde forum and wonders why everyone trusts this guy so much and launches an attack on him calling him out to prove all his wins and account balance by posting screenshots etc.

7) Blatch comes out and claims he lost the full bankroll on the Liverpool v Stoke game in January by falling asleep pre match. All the trades hes made since then are make believe. He claims the reason for continuing to lie for months and months is because he was trying to make the money back so no one would know about it. But the worst bit is that in April he made a staking thread for staking for the World Series of Poker and managed to get £14,000 from various people. It is assumed he used this money to try and win back the £80,000..

8) In April/May he took his family ona trip of a lifetime to Florida and Miami where they stayed in a 5* hotel and he kept posting on his facebook about how brilliant and posh his trip was.

9) Now everyone knows the money is long gone and its come out that he didnt lose it on Liverpool v Stoke at all, he lost it being a degenerate gambler, betting on roullette and horse racing and the likes.

10) He claims he is moving back in with his parents (hes 35) and selling his fiesta and getting a job and plans to pay everyone back eventually.

12) People are devastated. They want to get the police involved, some have lost their savings, some cant go on holiday this summer because of it.

Original Thread from the beginning, staking request and regular updates

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=43354.0

Around page 85 of the original thread someone starts posting asking questions and it directs the thread into lots of accusations and arguements, this was eventually split into a new thread which is the following link and which all the updates are now on

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48399.870

Erm....

OK- bigger cliffs are that Neil Blatchley ("Blatch" on the forum I've linked to), self-proclaimed professional gambler/poker player set up a staking fund for him to place football bets. The beginning of the thread I've linked to has a poster criticising his credentials and his friends/backers sticking up for him. As the thread goes on something begins to not look right. First Blatch lies that he managed to lose a large part of the fund by oversleeping and missing a bet. Then it turns out that he has been cooking the books, and that he has been setting up other bogus staking deals (such as being staked to play the WSOP main event) just so he can pour money into his lifestyle.

Featuring appearances by James Dempsey (1st WSOP PL Holdem, 2nd to Sammy Farha in WSOP O/8), Stu Rutter and other UK poker notables.

I thought it would be interesting on NVG since most people here have heard of staking and have either staked or been staked, or know of someone who has. Also it's interesting watching a charismatic con-man lies catch up with him.

Why would someone stake someone else to bet sports?

It's the cost of doing business if you are into staking.

These Cliff's are way better than mine.

+1

Uhm, because they believe it's a +ev investment?

.. and because they suck at sportsbetting.

Did he bet that he wouldn't fall asleep before the game?