The problems that seem to have been dogging the show over the past month has not entirely been down to caution; even though we have had an unusually high number of third offer deals.

The fact is the players just aren't having good enough luck at the moment. Stan is the only player to bring one of the Power 5 to the table this month, and even then, his board was still risky. We've had a succession of blues on the table; even in really strong looking games like Ben's and Kat's, there has still been a blue on the table.

I suppose the point is, even though we've had a pretty torrid month so far, things wouldn't have been that much better if the players hadn't been as cautious.

As we've seen before, all we can do is wait patiently and, eventually, we will get some big games of some sort. It's just a question of when, and who?

I must say i have been getting a bit annoyed with this long run of extreme caution and unavoidable trainwrecks. I think the excitement has gone out the window since Scott's £50k win last month

I actually felt the same way about March 2012, as it produced just 3 OPW's all month (One being through a very cautious 11-box deal ), while most other games that month had players dealing at, or before, 8-box, or going beyond 8-box and crashing to a blue win! (Though i think the run of caution in March may have been triggered by Damien's massive crash to a blue win after declining £40,000).

It's amazing to see this run so soon after two astoundingly successful displays of extreme fatalism (Nong and Scott - the latter premeditated, the former I can't begin to explain). There wasn't even a filming break after those recordings either, was there?

In a way this is sort of a cross between March this year and May 2007, when the early offers were very generous and (several months late) the players started to notice, and get out early. There have also been high-stakes but high-volatility boards, which create openings for early Deals as both sides have reason to be nervous of play continuing. Chloe's game epitomised that, and it was interesting to note that at 11-box, when the Banker rang up after Noel talked down the success rate of 11-box Deals, his comment about such Deals being more likely to succeed on dangerous boards actually led Noel to say "I take that back", clearly in a way apologetic to a nervous Chloe. Who promptly Dealt.

September has proven one thing, more third round deals than any other month and also more cautious players (slightly and (very... example...Ben) )...

Hopefully very soon we will see more forth / fifth / six deals / no deals all the way.

The average amount brought to the table in September (before Friday's game) has been a tad under £6,000... Baring in mind, the average box amount is over FOUR times that, it's been rather lucky that they've been a cautious bunch!

Continuing on from that, since Mark's 'worst game' (the unofficial start of Season , winnings have exceeded the box amounts brought to the table by around £80,000. In no season have winnings exceeded box amounts, and I don't think this is very likely to continue...

It's a pity they do not get in touch with me,have been waiting 5 yrs now since my audition and have never been told that I would not be on,I would liven the show up as it has become really dull for quite a long time now.Also I am a gambler and definately would have gone on to the end providing there was something still there.The show definately needs a few characters on it as it is now really boring..sorry all you avid Donders but that is only my opinion