The Biggest Game So Far

Last night I played in my first live tournament at a local club. It had the highest buy-in and highest number of opponents of any game that I had ever played live. Although it was "just a game" to everyone else there, it was a lot more to me. It was one more small but significant step into becoming The Future Poker Star.

All the information I had to start with was the buy-in, the amount of players, the chip stacks, and the blind structure. I knew none of the players or more importantly, how they played.

I got there about half an hour early. Due to some crazy laws with poker and gambling in the UK, I had to become a member of the club which hosted the game, which I thought would take a lot longer but it was a simple case of signing my name and handing a five pound note over. I introduced myself to the gentleman who ran the game and enjoyed a bit of social small talk with him. I figured he might just be the man that I am looking for to open some poker doors for me at some time down the road, so I made face known to him.

The room started filling up and I was chatting away with some of the other players while drinking my non-alcoholic drink. I took note, as instructed, of "the drinkers". There was about 10 people who went straight to the bar, and I looked hard to remember their faces. These would be the people that I would take advantage of at some point, hoping that they would be the risk takers that evening.

I paid my money and paid for a bounty side game too. This was £2 which wasn't explained to me before hand but worked out that someone would be drawn at random to be the bounty, who ever knocked him from the game becomes the bounty and whoever is the bounty at the final table wins the money. Everyone paid the money so I thought I would too. After all, the odds of me becoming the bounty is completely even with everyone else, regardless of experience or skill, and as my style is fairly tight I think that if I got the bounty I would be able to hold onto it until the final table. So this was probably my best chance of winning some money tonight.

As we sat down I realized that there was only 3 tables of players, and was told that only 21 people turned up tonight. This threw me off to be honest as I had mentally prepared for a game of at least 4 or 5 tables. Whatever. The game started and we are underway.

The first thing I noticed was probably a great lesson to learn, not only in poker but in life. There were a few people that had some fancy tricks with the cards and chips. You know the ones I mean, the fancy shuffle, the flick of the wrist to throw the cards into the muck, the one handed chip stacker. I assumed that these people had played a lot of poker and were the ones to look out for. I guess it is like when you see a guy shouting his mouth off acting hard at a bar that you think you shouldn't mess with, or a guy that tells you that he sleeps with loads of women. Well it turns out that these were the players that seemed to just be putting a front on. They may look and act like dangerous professional poker players, but some of the plays they were making told a very different story.

I played tight to start with and only went in with good hands, but I was getting some great hands! I flopped quads twice in a row in the first few hands and managed to get a reasonable chip lead on the table. This was when I realized that I had no idea how I stood in the tournament itself in terms of my chip stack. In an online multi-table tournament you just look at the lobby and see exactly how you are ranked, but I couldn't do that last night and it was a bit off-putting.

As time went on I was folding just about everything and just seeing a flop if it was cheep. before I knew it the first half an hour had gone and people started dropping like flies. Tight players started playing silly cards, and small raises were turning into all-ins. I personally think that a combination of things were causing players to do this: a lack of patience, boredom, and the effects of cheap beer were turning good players into rookies. By the time the hour break came along, we were down to 2 tables and by my calculations of the amount of chips that we started with and the amount of players left in the game, I was well above the average.

Everyone headed to the bar and I headed outside for a cigarette. A few guys that approached me and I said that I hadn't been playing long and wasn't very good. I said I got lucky a few times. I always think that it is better to make people think that you are lucky as opposed to skillful,and that you are just there for something to do on a week day evening as opposed to having the ambition and goals of becoming The Future Poker Star!

I sat at a new table and was made to feel like "the new boy". There was one particular guy who kept muttering and sniggering at everything I did. Even down to the way I had my chips stacked at the table induced remarks under his breath with a grin. I didn't care. There was a time when this would have produced a reaction from me that would have made him regret it for his entire life, but not these days. He called me all in every time I raised and I knew that I would get him if I kept my cool and had patience. Eventually the aces hit and I called his all-in raise. He had 7 3 off suit and something to think about on his way out of the door.

The second break came and went and we went hand for hand soon after. I folded a pair of jacks pre-flop at one point which I think was just because I wanted to get to the final table which was probably a mistake. But I made it to the final table.

The payout structure was changed just before the start. Because there was only 21 players, only 5 got paid where normally it would be 7 players. I was starting the final table with the smallest stack and only had enough for a few orbits of the board before I was blinded out. Fortunately for me people were panicking and making what I consider to be mistakes. People were going out thick and fast and before I knew it we were at the bubble. I was happy to be here and knew from my online games that people would tighten up. I stole some blinds by pushing all-in when I sensed weakness and managed to survive. As a player called me all-in I looked at her and asked her what she had. She said "I have good cards" but her eyes looked down straight away, she looked at her stack, and took a deep breath. I asked her if she could beat my pair of nines and she shrugged her shoulders, and her eyes darted back to her chips again. That was enough for me. I called and saw her pair of sevens. My nines held up and I doubled up and she got knocked out the next hand. She was the only woman I have ever played against and the only female player there, so I felt a bit bad for her, but I was happy that I made the money and felt a sense of achievement. The blinds went up and I was forced all-in with a jack 10 suited. My opponent and the eventual winner called with ace king and took me out. After a few hand shakes and good lucks I left with a £20 profit, my first live tournament out of the way, and most importantly; one of Aprils goals scored!

I was happy that I played to the game plan and I was happy to have finished in the money. I learned a lot tonight about first impressions often being misleading, and I learned a lot about the power of being patient. I also think that it helped by telling a few lies about me not playing very often and not taking poker seriously giving the impression that I wasn't a threat to anybody. I also learned that I can play to limp into the money if that is what I want to do, but to win I would have to play to win from the very start.

I wondered on my way home if I would have finished in the same position if there were over 40 players playing. I would have made over a hundred pounds if I did, or I may have tripped up and been sent home early. I guess next week I will find out.

When I started writing this post I didn't realize that it would be so long, but I hope that some readers might be able to take what I have learned from my first tournament and my step further in the long journey of becoming The Future Poker Star.