My first Poker tournament

This weekend marked the First "Annual" Texas Hole Em Poker Tournament Fundraiser for the Bad Dog Theatre. I put annual in quotation marks, because I have a feeling we'll see another one before 12 months expire.

I called Bates to see if he was still going to play. We decided to ride our scooters up to the game, probably the last good day for riding considering it's supposed to snow on Thursday. Great day for riding.

We got to the Equity Showcast Theatre, and grabbed our chips, a bottle of water I scarfed down a couple of cookies, and we took a seat at our respective tables.

The buy in was $40. If you busted out, you could buy another $40 in chips. At the final break, you could "top up" and buy another $2000 in chips for $20. Brilliant move, most people topped up.

There were a good number of Bad Doggers around, either playing or dealing. And then there were what I like to call the "sharks". I don't know where some of these guys came from, but they sure knew how to play. I was actually glad to have one at our table. I learned a lot by watching him play his hands. Add that to the strategies I'd picked up from watching the odd episode of World Poker Tour, and I knew exactly jack. My only goal when I arrived was to play for at least an hour without busting out. When my hour came and passed, I reset my sights for the first break. Deep down, I wanted to make it to the "final table", but I would be happy for just making it to the break.

I got lucky with a couple of hands, rattled some cages by bellowing "I'm playing at a table full of PUSSIES" after a couple of rounds of most players folding, and learned that I love to go all in.

The break came and went, and I ran to the bank machine to buy my $20 top up. That was it. I wanted that final table. I was the short stack at my table, but I was determined to outlast some people and get to the final nine.

That desire caused me to second guess my play on one crucial hand. I had bet somewhat aggressively as a bluff on my pair of sixes, and on the river card I knew my play should have been a sharp, decisive "all in". Instead, I tossed in $1500 casually. It would only take one more player busting out to bring on the final nine. I wanted that seat, so I didn't want to bust out. Bad move on my part. Bates saw my $1500, and beat my pair. I can't help but think that if I went all in, he might have backed down. Dammit. That's the hand that haunts me.

But, next thing I knew, two players at the other table had busted out, and I'd done it. Somehow I ended up with exactly the amount I needed to cover the big blind (my new position at the final table), and I managed to stay alive for a few hands. I was first to bust out, but I didn't care. I'd made it to my goal.

Bates outlasted me by a few players, and as far as I could see, he would have stayed in for longer if he didn't have to rush to do the show at Second City. At the end, he was trying to lose.

The winner of the tournament was one of "the sharks", a guy I'd never met before, but who was a hoot. I was glad that the experienced players who came to the game were all fun, good natured people, and I was happy to see this guy take the pot. He took home over $400, and the trophy. Yes, there are photos.

The tournament was really well organized, and treated with a lot of professionalism.

In the end, the tournament lasted about 6 hours and raised exactly $1000 for the theatre. Huge.

Next time, you better be there. It was retarded fun.