Back to Star City, on to Amsterdam
I’ve been thinking alot about last weekend’s poker, particularly that final Kings vs set of fours bust-out hand. The other big thing I remember poker tournaments by, however, is the friendliness and atmosphere of the occassion. I hope I can have a little effect in making the table a more pleasant place to be. Within the whole atmosphere of cold decks, bad beats, and ultimately of money, I think friendliness counts for a lot.
Since starting a naive rookie to the live tournament circuit 3 years ago, I have generally been impressed and a little surprised by the friendliness of most poker player’s to their opponents. It is of course very variable from tournament to tournament, but I’ll remember the event at Star City as being a wonderfully friendly occassion. Thinking backto my end of the tournament, I realise I spent a bit too long feeling gutted with myself about failing to make a decent laydown, and would have liked to spend more time congratulating the opposition.
There were a number of great characters,but in particular one woman, called Sally, who I am really glad to have met. I think I am right in saying it was her first big tournament, and she had had a dream for a while of training to be a driving instructor. The problem was that this had a massive cost of £3000. However, as we crept closer inside the money, she soon began to realise that she could achieve this dream by finishing in the top nine. She eventually finished 7th, and I was so happy for her, as she achieved her dream and even had a bit of change to celebrate!
Now poker really is the only game that could create that kind of story, and that is what is so beautiful about it. The beauty of poker is not the professionals trading ridiculous amounts of poker, or a few 18-year old internet kids finding themselves with thousands before they know what to do with it. The beauty is the ordinary person being able to achieve a dream of their own.
Looking onwards, I’m excited about the Amsterdam Classics Main Event next week. This Friday, there is a 1,000 Euro prelim event, with one rebuy. Well, that sounds like a 2,000 Euro freezeout to me, so that sounds like a Friday morning flight out of Birmingham…
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