Going Live

I played my first live poker game tonight at the Cardiff Grosvenor.

The buy in was £10 and there must have been about 100 people playing. There were all sorts of people there ranging from eighteen all the way up to their late seventies.

It was a bit daunting sitting at a table for the first time. The tables weren't dealer dealt so the cards were moved around the table and each person took turns in dealing. Luckily for me I was at the end of the table so I was last to hand out the cards.

My first hand would have been amazing had I not folded it. I had ace and eight of clubs but there had been some hefty raises before me so I decided to save my chips and fold. The flop would have given me the best flush as they were full of clubs.

I was also dealt queens and I must have given a tell away as everyone folded when I made a bet. I then thought I would play-act when I had something not as strong and see if they folded again. A while later I put this to use and won the pot.

Another brilliant hand I had was when I was given 10 and ace of diamonds. I was the big blind so was able to check and see the flop. I hit a straight as the flop had a jack queen and king. I checked and someone bet then somebody else re-raised him all in. I looked at them and, playing possum, I let out a sigh and said 'I'll call all in I suppose'.

I ended up winning the hand.

The first hour was made up of rebuys so it was common for people to go all-in, lose their hand and then buy more chips. I played a tight game and didn't need to buy more chips. My initial goal was to last the first hour and I did.

At the first break I bought another 1000 chips and had 2,700 which was 700 more than I had started with. I played on but was knocked out three quarters of an hour later.

I lost but achieved a lot more. I went out and did something that I had always wanted to do - I played in a live tournament.

So that was a win for me.