Stanmore Poker Club
5 December 2006
When your name becomes part of cockney rhyming slang you know you’ve made it in some kind of freakish way. The likelihood is of course, that it’s not good. For Brandon ‘Blocko’ Block it’s not. A ‘Brandon’ to those in the right circles, is a geezer found in clubs coked up to the Moon and back. But when you’ve had the kind of success he has, who gives?
The DJ turned TV presenter, turned general music celebrity is not a name known in the poker world, and nor should he be. But Brandon likes his cards, and when invited by Party Poker to play the European Open he was hardly going to say no.
Brandon has the eighties music scene to thank for his success, something Thatcher may not have had a hand in. Starting as a window dresser in Top Man and Burton he then shifted tack quickly to become a mobile disco DJ. When Acid House broke the dam of 1980s early corporate pop and revived the a psychedelic pulse that had been all but dead for twenty years, it was people like Block who found themselves at home, a world where they belonged, and it came with deep synthesized baseline stamped with a yellow smiley face that only people under 30 seemed to understand. Block quickly reached a position of royalty in the industry and became, with friend and musical partner Alex P, a legend in the club world.
Christopher Columbus may have been born there so it was fitting perhaps that new explorers would find Ibiza in the 1990s; the 18 year old kind, armed with sunburn and Heineken. What they found were DJs like Block making the island their own, a legacy that still exists today.
But as I spoke to Block, all this was almost a generation ago. Ten years back and things were a little different. Playing in Maidstone Film Studios in front of the cameras he looked like the bloke a few spots down the bar that you might pass ten minutes with talking about the football. He speaks with a gravel voice that fades to nothing every now and then. In another life this guy could do you a good deal on a second hand motor, and probably walk with a greyhound on a leash.
But the scene came with its own poison. Back then, at the height of his powers, Block was addicted to Cocaine and on top of that was suffering from Tuberculosis. It forced him out of the Club scene for six months to recover. Rumours of his death were exaggerated, but only slightly.
To many though it was an ad-libbed performance at the Brit Awards six years ago that secured the notoriety that not even club residences in Ibiza can bestow. On stage uninvited as an award was being presented (Block had actually stormed the stage after someone had told him he’d won the award), Ronnie Wood hurled a drink at him after the two began trading insults. Things got ugly. Of the two Wood was the one being presented the award, so the executive decisions surfaced easily on the minds of security that night when picking who to drag from the stage.
But back to Maidstone where the real world can catch up with you like a traffic cop. Brandon looked tired after arriving early for the first heat. He was also trying to quit the fags, turning down offers of a smoke break with a look of pain on his face suggesting he’d been asked to give up his eyes.
He had just exited the celebrity heat of the European Open 3, dicing with the likes of former Miss England, Danielle Lloyd, Page 3 model Leilani Dowding, actor Jamie Foreman and former Big Brother winner and mate Anthony Hutton. Block, along with Steve Davis, had seemingly represented the over 30s at the table. As he waited for his friend Anthony to make easy but slow work of the heads up, we talked about the music, poker, Vegas and blagging those all important tournament buy-ins.
Stephen Bartley: How did you get into DJ-ing and the whole club scene?
Brandon Block: Basically I just liked my music from years and years ago, and it was in the local pub, where I used to drink, that I started. One night the local DJ didn’t turn up and the manager said ‘you’ve got records aint ya?’ I said ‘yeah’, and me and my mate Ali went to get our records to play. So we came back and played, and obviously we knew everyone and everyone in town and it was bedlam. So he said well, you may as well do it every week. And we ended up buying some decks and became mobile DJs. And we ended up doing these ‘Pub Eighties’ and stuff like that and it just progressed from there to be honest.
SB: What grabbed you about it? Was it just a love of music from an early age?
BB: Yeah, obviously clubs changed once Acid House kicked in, we all sort of got involved in that and touch wood it all worked. In my favour I was very lucky to be part of the Space thing in Ibiza, with Alex P when it first started, so that helped a lot. It created a career I suppose.
SB: You’ve had a lot of success since then, working around the world. Has it been hard graft or did things just seem to fall into place?
BB: At the time it was fun, a lot of travelling obviously but real good fun, partying. Yeah the travelling does get you down, the driving and the rest of it; it can take its toll. But you know, it’s all worth it.
SB: You’ve been working in Ibiza for over ten years, how has that changed?
BB: More like 15 years now. Yeah, has it changed? Yeah. It got really really busy. And obviously it’s expensive now, it wasn’t like that then. So many people were there in the summer when we first started. People find out about things and it increased ten-fold, busy and busier. When I first went there were times when myself and Alex used to play a club at a different place each day of the week and people used to go to each club following us around. One night Passion, one night… there was a promotion at every club every day of the week. The island never loses the vibe. People ask ‘what’s the next Ibiza?’ and there’s no next Ibiza, there’s nowhere like it.
SB: How about poker, how did you start playing?
BB: Well poker was like a family thing. My mum and her boyfriend at the time, used to play Stud. He taught me how to play. I was too young to be in the casino at that time or anything like that but we used to play Stud and I loved the game. I play card games, I used to play Kalooki, you know. But the whole Texas Hold’em thing, I haven’t been as dedicated as some of the people here. I stopped playing when my mum’s boyfriend left, he’s dead now, God rest his soul. But it’s become really popular now.
SB: What do you play? Tournaments? Cash games?
BB: I do play cash games; and I used to play monthly tournaments. But we have a game around our house every week. (I got a party poker table.) So we normally play with about four or five hundred quid.
SB: You can obviously play a bit. With a chance like this, to play in the European Open, are you a bit disappointed?
BB: Well, you know the way I look at is, I didn’t get the cards, and it’s one of those things. There are days when you get cards and those you don’t. I didn’t get any cards, I paired the board twice with an Ace, and I bet on them and won those hands. Maybe I should have played more aggressive but there were so many callers. Obviously the blinds were getting bigger and I was thinking ‘I’m wasting chips’ every time I raise. If I haven’t got a pair the girls are gonna call me (Danielle Lloyd and Leilana Dowding) because they were hitting hands all day.
SB: You’ve worked out in Las Vegas a few times…?
BB: Yeah, I’ve played Vegas a couple of times, and played a bit of cards there too. But you know, I was overtaken by the whole casino thing and was drunk at the table with all those Americans, and you know what they’re like! I won a few quid, but Vegas is great.
SB: How do clubs out there compare to say the UK or Ibiza?
BB: Well now they’ve got Ministry of Sound out there. Also poker is massive there of course and there’s an influx, the whirlwind. And Vegas is fantastic and has become busier and busier so they’ve got loads of clubs out there. Great place.
SB: How often do you head out there?
BB: I haven’t been for a couple of years now. I’d like to get a gig out there if I was going to go. My mate runs a club out there, the Ice Club. Next year we plan, if possible, to get money together and buy- in to the World Series. But by then hopefully I’ll have played a few more tournaments like this with Party Poker. I think they like me playing! And if that’s good for telly then there might be a few more
SB: You were the entertainer at the table, fun to watch…
BB: If that’s something that’s good for telly then maybe I’ll get to do a few more.
SB: Is that how you would like to see your game going?
BB: Well yeah, and at the end of the day the more you play the more you learn; the strategy. I mean Steve Davis is just a plodder and he played his hands. He got spanked by Danielle a few times. I had a big hand early and lost a lot of chips straight off. So if I get chance to play more and learn more about the game
SB: You’ve played at Gutshot too…
BB: Yeah, I’ve played a couple of times at Gutshot. It’s just a bit of a travel for me as I live out towards Heathrow. But I’ve got the Western down the road, and we have a card club at Stanmore which is literally ten minutes from my house. There’s always a cash game in my area.
SB: And work wise what’s next?
BB: To be honest with you I don’t know that yet mate! I’m just DJ-ing.
SB: Free to do whatever you like…
BB: Yeah, I’m going to Thailand at Christmas for a month, doing DJ-ing up till then. I’ve got this that and the other. I’ve got work next year, so I mean I’ll carry on until told to stop, do you know what I mean? So touch wood!
SB: Thanks Brandon.
BB: You’re welcome mate.
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