An amazing start to 2009 for Newcastle Poker Forum

As they say in business, the first 2 years are always the hardest and if you survive them, then you have achieved something.  I started the Newcastle Poker Forum on 1 April 2008 with my dad and just now we’ve really realised the phenomenal success it has been in the realtively short time it has been live.  I won’t go on about about why/how it’s been successful but I created this post off the back off the start of the NPF Live Poker League which kicked off just Friday gone but unfortunately couldn’t be there for the first week I was playing the Liverpool Winter Festival (more on that later).

For most of last year I had been buzzing with ideas for the forum but as it was the first year it was hard to get things off the ground so I a lot of things were postponed until 2009 where I expected some massive things to happen.  Obviously with NPF being a local forum, one of the original main goals was to support live poker in the area so the idea of a league grabbed my attention and soon after the NPF Championships, we started throwing round some ideas and offering it to the local casinos to see what we could get back.  Alongside this there was also the idea of organising our own team game so that we could get lots of members into an event like this as there is great team spirit on the forum.  Grosvenor Casino then offered us a 200 max capacity 2 day tournament fully dealer dealt, buffet nd stuff so it was something we could not refuse.  About 4 weeks before the event and it was full with 5 NPF teams entered + room for overflow which is quite amazing as some big forums couldn’t even rustle up 10 players.

Back to the league game.  After months of negotiatians, we kept pushing Grosvenor that we could easily fill the cardroom on a friday night and get it back buzzing like it used to be.  Eventually we got the nod from the management and they offered us over £2000 worth of GUKPT seats which is excellent value that no one should miss out on.  By the time things were finalised, the post went up on the forum 3 weeks before the first leg and after a week we already had over 80 registrations for people wanting to play in it which is incredible.

The first leg happened to land on Friday 6 February which inconveniently landed on the same date as the first day of the Liverpool Winter Festival which I really fancied playing and then later happened to win a seat in a live satellite that we organised.  I was gutted about missing the first leg as I wasn’t sure about how Grosvenor would run things when we weren’t there.  Card guard kid said he wasn’t gonna play but instead build up the hype by doing videos and on the mic (he’s very good at that) and making sure things go alright.  I got updated at one of the breaks while in Liverpool and told me they had 117 runners which is simply amazing, even I did not expect it would be very full.  The power of the forum has been proved by turning an average 40 runner field to well over 100 which had people playing who hardly play much live poker.

Another update and was informed the final table was approaching at about 2am with an avaerage stack of about 7 bbs.  I’ve done plenty of research on tournament structures, working out when they will finish etc and consider myself to have better understanding than most cardroom managers.  I set the structure at 5000 chips and 25 min blinds and for 100 runenrs I expected a final table to be reached between 1am and 2am which was pretty much spot as there were 117 and a little late starting.  Obviously, with it being a 1 day evening tournament there is no way you can avoid it turning into a crapshoot at the end and imo, that is part of tournament strategy as you need to play well to sustain a stack and then know how to play your push fold poker knowing the right spots etc.  So anyone that complains about not being able to play at the end really pisses me off and shows a real misunderstanding of structures because you can’t have eveything. Need to stop ranting, overall very chuffed and so happy with the support we have from the members and no other forum is like NPF.

Right, quick mention about Liverpool.  Not much to say really, didn’t play great but as normal all my good hands game in shit sutuations.  Here is some of them below:

• Aces, small pot into fish who doesn’t pay me off.
• QQ against flopped set of jacks.  (Read it perfect and saved some chips but still a dent in stack)
• QQ vs QQ vs AA had to lay down on shoved flop.
• JJ utg limped with 6 others.  Flopped a set, played it wank by check raising flop.

Tiredness always kick in when I play live and I have such poor concetration that I hardly pay attention to how the players are playing and was generally playing too timid.  My table got broke up late on in the day and played a few hands on the new table winning and losing a couple of small pots.  Then came my exit hand which was a semi bluff and partially unlucky situation that never rewards me when it needs to.  AKh with about 20bbs, raised cut off, blind calls.  Q high flop, checked to me so I continue the unscary board and I get flatted.  Turn comes the 2nd heart.  The guy asks how much i have left and it was about 13k so he bets out 2k.  I really didnt have an idea what he had but still had the overs and nut flush draw and seemed like a perfect semi bluff opportunity so I shoved over the top and called by the set of Queens (can’t believe he called when i’ve got the flush draw with 1 card to come).  Off to the rail very disappointed and the fact that poker is a boring shit game really sets in.

I already don’t play much poker but now my games are really gonna be limited and it’s gonna take something special to get me playing anymore than twice a week.  NPF takes up so much of my time and I get more of a buzz from achieving and organising stuff with that than any poker win I rarely get.  2009 should be an eventful year for me, hopefully one of the most enjoayable despite this depressing recession.