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My first live poker experience
fab gary, well done.
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When we arrived in Blackpool it wasn't the tower that caught my eye. It was the G Casino with its big neon signs on the side, particularly the one advertising the poker room. I've only been playing poker for a couple of years, always online and I only started playing for real money less than a year, but I realised I now had my first chance to have a go at live play. I called into the casino during the day, registered as a member and asked about their tournament schedule (I don't play cash). It turns out they have a poker tournament every night at 8-00pm, I decided to enter Wednesdays £20 tournament with 1 re-buy/add-on available.
Fifteen minutes before the off I walked into a poker room for the first time, on my own and feeling quite nervous. 34 players had registered, the tables were drawn and we sat down to play. after 15 mins or so when I plcuked up the courage to place my first bet I stuttered my words and must have come across as a complete nervous wreck, giving off physical tells galore, unsurprisingly everybody folded. But as time went on I became more comfortable and got used to the table etiquette and keeping track of my stack size and those of the other players. The field was a mix of everything from local semi-pros to passing tourists. There seemed to be much more calling, but less raising and less bluffing compared to online play. I played a very tight game for the first few levels, but as my confidence grew so did my aggresion. To my amazement I made the final table without needing a re-buy. The screens showing the rather strange prize structure;
1st £400
2nd £300
3rd £200
4th £110
5th £90
I think I had the shortest stack when we began the final table, but I managed to double early and busted two players. When the money bubble broke my stack was just above average. After a longish period where I was card dead and missing all flops we got down to three handed with me having only around 40K chips vs an Italian regular with about 150K and a Scotsman with about 110K. With blinds at 8k/4K and the clock showing 2-30am I shoved pre-flop from the SB with K7o, the big stack on the BB called me with his QJs. We both missed the board and I doubled up. That turned out to be the last hand, we counted the stacks (they were all almost the same, within a SB of each other) and agreed to do a deal, we split the remaining prizes equally and took home £300 each.
Needless to say I was thrilled to bits, I completely resisted the roulette tables and slots but I did treat myself to a celebratory pint before leaving the casino literally walking on air.
If anybody else reading this has never played live I would say 'go for it' if you ever get the chance. The casino environment isn't nearly as intimidating as you would think, my opponents were all very friendly and patient with a newbie. In my tournament I would say the field was softer than you get online. I'd love to play in a SPT event, but unfortunately they aren't compatible with my work hours and my home location.
Nice result.
Great Post Gary. And you are correct - Live Poker is the nuts.
Blackpool G is quite a nice cardroom, too, not many are as nice as that.
If my other half persuades me to take her to see the lights in Blackpool this year I think I may well take a detour to the cardroom myself.
Congrats on your result and good luck on the tables.
Keith
1. For those who moan about the rake on Sky it was 25% on the buy-in at the casino, £20 + £5. (But there was no rake on the re-buys!)
2. As for Area51, I saw just as many sick suck-outs as I see online. For example one player got his chips all-in preflop with AA only to be busted by the mighty 55. A short stack on the final table with less than a SB made an unlikely comeback that began with a treble-up where his AT beat AK and KQ, then continued when his A7 all-in pre beat AK on a K4865 board.
ive just come back from cornwall and i would of got killed if id played poker at a casino!!!!
I would of killed him if he hadn't of come back with £300 in his pocket.
Well done Gary, playing live is much better than sitting in your front room staring at a screen.
I'm going to the G Casino in luton again this month to try to win my holiday money!!!!
The tables or always friendly in any casino I have been to, the semi-pros and pros even more so but dont foget you are their living so they want you to stay lol! I also believe there is less bluffing and crazy moves and calls which I see a lot on line, in a poker room you cant click stand and disappear into cyber space after being caught with your hand in the cookie jar.... plus its harder to bluff a player when they are staring into your sole.
Nice result Gary and well done keep playing as much live as you can... I know I will.