Red Hot Poker Tour

I joined the Red Hot Poker Tour yesterday and played in my first tournament at Bert & Ernie's in Etobicoke.

The Red Hot Poker Tour is a free venue for people to play poker, improve your game, and meet people. It's held across the GTA, Windsor, and Ottawa and is affiliated with Daniel Negraneau (from Toronto) and his poker site - Full Contact Poker. So, it's free AND affiliated with one of the best poker players in the world.

The winner of the Tournament of Champions (at the end of each "season") gets a special prize. Last "season's" winner ("Season" 5) will be flown to Las Vegas to play Heads Up against Daniel for $5000 US. This year's champion (as well as the "Season" 4 Champ) gets a seat at Daniel Negraneau's Protégé table!

How great would that be!? LOL.

Anyways, as I stated I played in my first "tournament" last night. There were 80 registered (the max) with a number of people on the waiting list ... this means that if some people bust out quickly (before a certain time), then the people on the waiting list start to fill those empty chairs. Once that time is reached, the "tournament" is closed and those playing continue on to the end.

I was seated at a good table. Everyone is there to have fun, so the banter was nice to see. I, being a newbie to all of this, was somewhat quiet and was just trying to pick up the flow of things. Since this isn't a "professional" tournament, the players were the dealers. The flow of the games were quicker than what you see on TV.

On the second hand, I broke my cherry and got into the action. I was dealt 9s 9h and was second to act after the Big Blind (BB). I raised 3x the BB (standard raise) and got 2 calls. The flop came 2h Ac 9d. Very nice - I hit a set. With an Ace out there, I was sure that one of the callers had one, so I'd get a little action. We all checked and the turn card was 10s - very nice for me. That meant no one had a flush draw opportunity. There was the chance of a straight draw, but it would mean an inside straight draw - tough to hit.

So, I had to make a bet that would make that draw seem costly. Then again, it was early and I'm sure some people would go fishing and chase the river card. I bet the pot and immediately the first person folded. The second remaining player took a while and finally called. My thoughts were they had an Ace with a low kicker and wasn't sure whether I was betting a low set or had an Ace with a higher kicker.

The river came up 7d - no straight possibilities!! My first thought was maybe this is buddy's kicker and he just made 2 pair. If that's the case (even if it wasn't), I want to set a trap. I checked to make it look like I was afraid he might have an Ace, that I really didn't, and maybe all I had was a pair of 10's. He took the bait and bet 1/2 the pot (effectively our last bet). I hesitated and stared at the cards and raised ... but, a small raise of just double his bet. THAT then confirmed to him that I had an Ace, but what was my kicker?

He went All-In and I immediately called. He turned up Ah 7c!!! I was actually right that he'd hit Two Pairs. I flipped over my 9's and took the pot, having eliminate someone on the second hand.

What was nice was I had established myself right away that I knew how to play even if this was my first time out with them. The unfortunate thing was that was the best hand I had up until the hand I was eliminate with.

I finally bowed out in 20th place. I battle hard to stay there, but I'm serious when I say 9-9 was my best hand. I saw one Ace (with a 6 off-suit) all night and had 2 raises on that round before the bet got to me ... of course, I folded. Turned out is was a great call as the 2 that squared off had K-K and J-J. Both a K and a J flopped to give them both a set.

Finally, after working the cards as best as I could, I found myself short stacked and not able to survive the approaching blinds. I had to make my move All-In quickly. Turns out, I finally got dealt A-K. The chip leader called me, since he was the BB and it didn't cost him anything more to call. He flipped 6-6. It's a crap shoot at this point, as we're virtually tied on the odds of winning. Well, that's all good to know, but the cards weren't cooperative and I bowed out.

I'm very happy with my play, as I did was I could do with the crap I was given and lasted as long as I did. I think I'll go out Wednesday's an play regularly. Hopefully, I can make the Tournament of Champions and find myself on TV!! LOL.

I'll keep you all posted with my progress!