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I thought the best bit was when he explained how his french girlfriend went into the betting shop to put a bet on the grand national, that was quite funny.
I have plenty of respect for Sensei Channing but I don’t think the word ‘punter’ really applies in his case. He’d be better described as a chiseller – he’s not a ballsy form-based backer or someone who takes dogmatic views against the market. It takes a huge slice of value to draw him out of the shadows for a straight win-only. He famously likes a bad e/w shape to be built in to his plays, or else some sort of proven-long term winning statistical edge to provide a safety net. As a result, I’m sure his graph is a crawling yet dependable uptick rather than the heart attack peaks and troughs of a pure punter. I laughed when he described himself as a ‘degenerate’!
I do admire Channing in the same way as one might admire The Racing Blogger. Neither has much innate talent in what are ostensibly their main fields: poker and sports betting (Channing), blogging (does he ever?) and punting (Blogger). Yet both have the raw chutzpah, people skills and mastery of the gritty maths to carve out tidy money and fulfilling lives.
This will all sound very critical but hold with me because I like the guy! If you watch him on TV poker, Channing is dull as ditchwater – just sitting quietly waiting for premium hands and playing them in a fairly ‘old school’ way. Even his sharp sense of humour is lost under the bluster of loud extroverted characters. He plays a low-variance unsophisticated style that would have made you a mid/high limits winner in cash games and a high buy-in tourney winner in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nowadays, against young sophisticated Internet-schooled grinders, Channing’s is a style that barely lets you tread water at a good NL500 table. Still, the man has something about him. That melancholy voice and sarcastic wit evidently masque some killer influencing abilities – again ‘people skills’ if you like. Despite bringing very little of the action and entertainment that TV poker producers crave, Channing is still a regular on many of the UK poker shows and is the enduring face of Sky Poker. He also picks up plenty of work in the commentary booth. In spite of his rather insipid play (and presumably slightly -EV strategy), I’m sure Channing is carving out a pretty solid ROI when you add his appearance fees, pre-paid buy-ins and everything else he gets from Sky. The man has a huge circle of high profile friends so his ability to weedle into juicy poker games with wealthy and reckless businesspeople and celebrities at the Vic must be a nice top-up for his win rate too. And that’s before you even look at the impressive line-up of ‘horses’ – proven long-term steady winners who he himself stakes for poker tournaments.
You have to admire Channing because he carved into two forms of gambling and stripped them right down to their bare minimum trace amounts of risk. I had to laugh at his ‘coping with losing runs’ section in Simon’s interview.
Despite identifying as a professional punter, he can wake up practically assured that he’ll make money every single day. He has an army of friends who can get his bad e/w bets laid on racing, he has statistical edges in football, he gets free money from Sky Poker, he gets a steady income from poker staking, he has a guaranteed seat in an incredibly juicy high stakes poker game, he has an odds compiling business, he writes for poker magazines and goodness knows what else besides.
He may be doing it in the most gritty unsexy ways imaginable, but Channing is beating the game.
I’m sure there’s a lot of truth behind what you say Lost Soldier but there’s also a trace of bitterness behind it. I’m interested to hear how you know Channing’s methods so well? It sounds like you could almost write an biography on the guy.
Yes I’m sure he is on the gravy train. But given how hard he sems to work, perhaps he deserves it…
Agreed on the most part Judgey, he deserves it for impressive feats of blagging and organisation. A very smart and shrewd person.
I suppose I’ve taken a strong interest in Channing because he has been involved in my two biggest interests of the last 10 years: poker and betting on horse racing. I’ve read/watched quite a few interviews with him, watched hours of him playing/talking about poker and enjoyed reading the anecdotes about him in Vicky Coren-Mitchell’s autobiography. Also met him briefly and found him friendly and engaging.
Sensei Channing is also well worth following on Twitter, especially if you’re a Corbynista like me!
Thanks for posting these Simon, he’s easy to listen to. I like his prosaic attitude towards the changes in the game and enjoyed these videos.
I think most pro gamblers are more like this channing type, small balling everything and taking jobs within the industry than this romantic, put my balls on the line archetype.
As others alluded to it’s nice to think you can just stay true to the spirit of gambling, but the reality is if you have bills to pay the ability to schmooze with others in the industry and get those gravy train jobs is probably more valuable. Putting everything on the line and you’re just going to go bust in the long run.
especially if you’re a Corbynista like me!
Would you adam and eve it: bookmaking is not a profession one immediately thinks would attract those of a left-wing persuasion
Perhaps the pollsters were right: all those under 30 either didn’t vote or voted Labour at the election
I rather doubt that Comrade Corbyn approved of Gordon Brown’s relaxation of the gambling laws or the introduction of FOBTs; but the far-left have always had a strange relationship with racing: they despise the ‘dukes’ who run the game and provide the fodder yet regard betting on the fodder by the ‘dustmen’ they purport to represent as okay: witness the presence of racing tipster Farringdon in your favourite paper The Morning Star
Farringdon’s predecessor Cayton (Alf Rubin) was their tipster for over 50 years and won the Sporting Life Naps Table on several occasions, which tended to be accomplished by napping rags after lengthy losing runs
Cayton Street was where the Morning Star had their HQ. Farringdon Street is/was the Guardian’s HQ. Should something be twigged?
If you’re serious, Drone, your perception is well askew. Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters can hardly be described as Communists. He is a Socialist opposed to the fatally damaging Neoliberalism that has held sway for the last 38 years including under the reign of Tony B. Liar. The Guardian remains in general rather Blairite, therefore, somewhat to the right of centre.
If you’re serious, Drone, your perception is well askew. Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters can hardly be described as Communists. He is a Socialist opposed to the fatally damaging Neoliberalism that has held sway for the last 38 years including under the reign of Tony B. Liar. The Guardian remains in general rather Blairite, therefore, somewhat to the right of centre.
I am rarely serious GM, though often contentious. Sorry, forgot left-wingers lack a sense of humour
The Communist Party’s manifesto is entitled ‘Britain’s Road to Socialism’ and has been since Lenin was a boy
It’s all snakey semantics: the forked tongue of the far-left licks the cloaca of the far-right, with all other dogmas forming the entrails of the curvaceous serpent: **** in, digested, **** out
For Marx’s sake don’t tell Owen Jones he’s a Blairite
The Young Fella provided the touch paper, I lit it
I blame Brexit
Coincidentally, The Guardian have launched a full scale attack on the gambling industry:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/uk-gambling-industry-takes-14bn-year-punters
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/former-gambler-free-bets-would-lure-me-back-in
Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters can hardly be described as Communists.
Yes they can, GM.
Jeremy Corbyn has been on the extreme left of the Labour Party for many years and a supporter of the old Muilitant Tendency.
Before he got in to a powerful position, Corbyn’s closest pal Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was happy to call himself a “Marxist”. That’s too close to “Communists” for my liking.
You don’t need to believe the right wing press, even Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson said he has evidence of “Trotskyists infiltrating the Labour Party”.
Their Labour manifesto may not be Communist, but Labour’s bosses ideals are nearer Communism than what’s thought of as British Socialism. Once in power there’s a fair chance they’ll revert back to their old beliefs.
Value Is EverythingGet down to the lounge boys
TAPK’s Johnny Rotten punked hair is one thing
but this…….Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Get down to the lounge boys
TAPK’s Johnny Rotten punked hair is one thing
but this…….Funny how things you’re interested in is ok on here, Nathan. What you’re not interested in – isn’t.
We are only following your lead.
Value Is EverythingJust a fun return poke at Drone,
don’t get your nickers in a twist
you might cut off the circulation of the carrot….
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
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