I'm all in

Last night I played in my first live poker game with complete strangers (not counting my experience with Corey and Forcey at the Crown, since that only lasted about 90 seconds).

We (Murray, Amanda, Ando, Carme and I) went down to Alberton Oval clubrooms for dinner and a poker tournament.

The set up is interesting - the tournament itself is free, and everyone gets 1,000 in chips. However, you get a passport when you register, which you get stamped as you buy food and drinks. Once fully stamped you can then trade these in for an extra 500 chips - so if you just go there for the tournament, you'll have a short stack compared to everyone else.

Anyway, we got there early to have dinner and maximise our chances of winning. I had a beef schnitzel with dianne gravy, always a very solid option. Although it didn't actually arrive until just after 7.20pm, and since the tournament started at 7.30pm . . . well, not a lot of time for digestion.

It was quite disorientating sitting down at a table with eight or nine strangers, obviously of varying degrees of expertise in the game of Texas Hold Em. We had one elderly man at our table who didn't seem overly familiar with the rules (eg asking things like "Why do I always have to bet first?" when he was sitting to the left of the dealer). Of course, he lasted to the final 15, longer than any of us.

It took a big adjustment playing with a smaller stack too - we got 1,000 to 1,500 in chips each, but the blinds were 25-50, and went up to 50-100 after 15 minutes. Getting used to the conventions of the game - burning a card before laying down the flop, the turn and the river, getting the person to your left to cut the cards before you deal - was a bit weird, concentrating on all of these things as well as your cards.

Basically all of this is to say that I flamed out pretty early - probably about a third of the way in. I got frustrated, and made a stupid decision, trying to bluff with K-9 and went down to a pair of aces (there was an ace on the flop so it wasn't exactly a genius play by me).

Murray got knocked out before me, but got reinstated with a lottery draw later in the evening, where he lasted a few more hands.

Amanda got knocked out next, then Ando. Last one standing was Carme, who amazingly wasn't even going to play at the start of the night due to her concerns about her poker abilities. Nevertheless, she lasted to 16th place, playing most of the night with a "rules of poker" pamphlet by her side.