My Poker Road Trip
True to my word I have increased my online poker playing time over the past month and this has taught me the ins and outs of poker grinding. After a long period of playing, for me anyway, I decided that it was time to put down the mouse and visit a real casino to get a taste of the live poker experience. I gave my online poker game a break and planned a road trip with a friend of mine. This was partly due to me wanting a change of scenery and partly due to my belief I had improved so much those casino poker fish would not stand a chance against me!
Online poker is great because whilst you are playing you earn player bonuses but nothing beats the mental stimulation that comes with playing live poker. It heightens your senses as you watch for physical tells and feel the poker chips in your hand. As real as online poker is (especially in a bad run) winning a large poker pot and then having the reward of stacking your chips is something every player should experience at least once.
The journey towards our hotel was filled with bad beat stories, stories about how we got our chips in with the stone cold nuts after talking our professional opponent into stacking off with ace high were flying around the car as we got more excited. Most of these stories were probably untrue or very liberal versions of the truth but we could not wait to get to the casino and register for the poker tournament. It was not massive stakes, but I am a big believer in that if you need to play $1000 buy-ins to feel motivated to play poker, then you probably are not that motivated by poker in the first place.
After dumping our bags at the hotel we quickly made our way into the casino and registered for the tournament. We were early as usual. After taking our seats at the table the first hands were dealt and I looked down at pocket Aces. Exuding a genuine tell of terror I convinced myself that I was going to bust on the first hand. I made a bet from middle position raising the pot to three times the big blind as the first player into the pot. I get two callers. The blinds were 10/20 and the pot is now 210. (10+20+60+60+60) It is checked to me and I decide to fire at the pot. I bet 180 chips and both players folded after a bit of thought. Thank goodness for that, I prefer to fold the first hand but you must play pocket rockets and I would have fired again on the turn if either of the players had called as the flop was not scary to my aces.
Even that pot was much more fun live than online where it would be pretty standard. My friend managed to finish a credible 15th place out of 57 runners and I finished 7th. I went out re-raising all-in with 88 and losing a race against AJ (which was a 50/50 call in my opinion). I managed to cash in the event which was great. There were a bunch of good players involved in the live tournament and both of us met some cool people. That is something online poker can never emulate, the social side of poker, but online poker offers so many benefits I cannot do anything but wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in finding a fun hobby and wanting to learn a useful skill.
We returned to our hotel after enjoying four hours of fun tournament poker and the next morning ate our cooked breakfast after a huge lie in. Life tasted good. It is fun to sample the poker lifestyle for one day but it would be stressful to live this way all of the time. That said, if I ever manage to win $1 million from a poker tournament I may be tempted to give it a try, look out for me winning a bracelet very soon…
By Malcolm Clarke
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Tags: live poker, online poker, poker, poker blog, poker road trip, poker story, poker tournament