*sigh* No.

I have never seen such bad losing, (except matty)

That is absolutely no way to act when you have what matters in life, and anyway it wasn't that bad as he got a holiday and £750, the way he acted was disrespectful to players like Claude who really needed the money but took their loss well.

To be honest, he did produce the worst case scenario at the final and the final few selections produced an unlucky streak. I suspect if it was normal rules, he would've dealt at £35,000 but as this week applies the one box rule, that little bit of temptation does creep in.

We still learned that carrying box 13 is still unlucky for contestants (as stated by The Banker at the first offer) and yet again, someone using a system doesn't always work.

Well I suspect in a normal game, the offer would've been about £20,000. Had Tony found trick and the banker looked inside his box, it probably would've either been about £20k or £45k, depending on what mind game he was playing with Tony. What Tony said about having a system is correct - you can blame it if you stick to it and things go wrong, but that's only applicable if you're planning to no deal to the end. Judging from what Tony said, I reckon he was always planning to play to the end, but obviously hadn't fully thought about the possible consequences, hence his reaction when things went wrong!

Another Halloween show and another gambler! I think the only thing that is encouraging this gambling is the poor offers before 5-box and then the option of having an offer after every box. 3 Halloween shows so far... 3 treats... 3 blues on the table... 3 (apparent) gamblers... and only 1 of the gambles has paid off.

Tony didn't blub as much as I thought he would (even Noel recognised he's the most tearful male contestant he can remember!) and I can understand why he cried after winning a blue after turning down £35k. Quite scary really that he had an almost indestructible board halfway through his game... and he ended up with just £750. Hopefully we'll get 2 great games to finish off Halloween week like we got with Chris B on 31/10/07!

poor Tony it all went wrong for him.just prooves how quickly the game can change!anyways he got a holiday out of it.

Sounds a great game to watch.

H, box 11 according to your commentary had both 50k and 250k, which one was it?

250k

Sorry, box 14 had £50,000; box 11 had £250,000.

Part of the decorations on the wings blocked part of the "4" in "14" and I read it as "11".

'Tis OK, it's just as I can't see the game, I tend to notice these errors more as I only have these commentaries to go on (I hate S4C).

I can't recall the last time I felt this sick after a game - I thought with 250k and two more of the power 5 AND a treat, it couldn't possibly go wrong. I thought to win a blue from there was practically impossible. I think that's why he took it so badly. I think to take out the 3 biggest like that would shell-shock most people. He wasn't stupid, but unbelievabley unlucky. If anyone can smile winning a blue after turning down 35k (and were quite reasonable to do so as well) well then I commend that person.

For some reason deals going wrong never feel as bad as that unless they're really extreme ones like Donna.

If that doesn't make them all cautious, then I don't know what will.

Wasn't expecting Tony to play today (judging by that thread in the spoilers section), caught the end of the show while at the gym, all I can say is, what a shame! Hope he enjoys the holiday though. Funnily enough not long afterwards the song 'Hate That I Love You' came on, kind of summed up how I was feeling just then...

Just thought - is that 35k the highest amount ever turned down to win a blue? I know Orry no-dealt 41k but he had the £1,000 bonus whereas Tony got a holiday instead. (I know the monetary value of the holiday is probably more than £250 but....).

One way or another, you're going to be totally gutted unless you're a hardened gambler who risks thousands on a regular basis!!

That was just plain horrible. I don't think he made any really bad decision gameplay wise and unfortunately the luck wasn't with him.

Joint-highest with Matty if his egg offer counted.

And I also echo you on your first comment; I felt sick too! I don't know what was worse; seeing my brother say he'd have taken the £35,000 and got the OPW, or a player actually playing a strong game and going for the big one and failing epically

Still, a brilliant game, yet again though for the wrong reasons...

Yep. Only Orry has turned down more money to win a blue. (I'm not counting the £1k bonus because that was a gift, outside of the main game.) In fact, Tony's game was very similar to Orry's -- three of the top four boxes still there at five-box and an offer after every box in the final round. And fancy dress too!

I think the offer after every box scenario isn't always so much of a 'treat', even on a very strong board!

I think Tony got carried away by the big money and his 'brilliant system' and the no dealing of the £6,000 was just chasing the higher offers

What a horrible game, yet enthralling at the same time. I was hoping for a strong opening offer in the region of £15,000 for the board he had, with nothing above £10k touched, but when the banker offered a swap, I thought that would be the start of a series of substandard offers.

But the board just got stronger and stronger. With 3 of the power 5 at 5-box and one to open, I confidently ruled out a repeat of the 'Orry' situation - only for it to happen again, desperately unlucky!

Across all the Halloween shows, that's 7 treats out of 7 now, and I'm starting to think it's a bit of a poisoned chalice, especially on stronger boards. Decisions are much harder clearly, as the dramatic increases in offers seem much more attainable, yet if you hit a red the banker will give you a much lower offer than the board warrants, like today's £6k. You go through dramatic highs and low, so by the time you're at the final 2, you're a complete wreck! The optimum time to deal of 5 box is thrown into question, and players are not really sure when to walk away at the moment!

I hope we get a trick this week to see the other side of things. Maybe we'll get a better result!

Actually, I thought the 6k was absolutely derisory on 50k/2 blues, given Whitey had got 10k on 35k/2 blues. I thought he had little choice but to go on.

Probably the main difference in the offers was the fact that Whitey would have had momentum having just opened two blues before it and would have been feeling confident, whereas Tony has just taken out two big ones, he game was in a downward spiral and he would probably have been looking for a get-out, so the banker trapped him in. Just the thing to make the following players not go for it.

Absolutely seconded.

Thirded - it's games like this that unfortunately sets the scene for a dozen or so cautious deals to follow!