My First Poker Tournament

By: Chris Schmidt

I had been playing mobile and online poker, for about 2-3 years before my first real tournament. I always enjoyed sitting at my computer at night, playing hands with players from all over the country. Playing poker in a casino never really interested me (what can I say? I am a computer geek at heart). Until one night, I was watching a no limit Texas hold ‘em game and started chatting with another player, Jon. He told me he had been playing online for a couple years as well. He has just recently come upon a huge win in a local casino tournament and told me I should give it a try. I laughed and commented about my lack of a “poker face”. Jon told me the tournaments don’t cost much to enter and that I would be a great learning experience. Jon did give me a word of advice, “wear sunglasses, and never show your eyes, other players can sense your fear.”

I didn’t really think about what Jon told me, until a couple of days later. My love for mobile and online poker might have to be put to rest for one night. I was going to sign up for a real, genuine, casino poker tournament. The idea of this tournament was making me incredibly nervous and excited at the same time. The Texas hold ‘em tournament was scheduled for January 19th and started at 7:00pm at the local casino. Once the day approached, I was ready to go. The enrollment fee was only $5 and the buy in fee was $100. I had saved up about $500 to my bank roll. As I walked into the casino, it was buzzing with action. Players were signing up for tables, dealers were setting up their tables and shuffling cards, waitresses were quickly serving up cocktails. It was very well organized and ran like a well oiled machine.

By 8:00pm all the players were settled and the tournament began without any hitches. I sat at my assigned table and quickly chatted with my new competition and quickly wished them luck. There were six of us in total, all looking for the perfect hand. My first hand was a Jack of hearts and Jack of spades, a pair! I was already feeling lucky and trying not to show signs of excitement on my exterior. Next came the flop, which revealed a 10 of diamonds, 10 of spades and a 2 of diamonds. I was holding two pairs, not too shabby for my first hand. I decided to check and wait for the next round to raise my bet, or go all in! Next came the 4th street and this brought me a blank card.

A few of the players then decided to fold and it became a 3 man game. I decided to raise and place $20 of chips into the pot. My neighbor called and added $20 more to the pot and the last player also called, which added $60 more to the pot. The reward was growing and I was praying no one had a better hand than me. I was trying desperately to remain calm and collected. This would be a huge pot for me to win, normally I only played in the $1 maximum buy in tournaments online. This tournament was already becoming quite a risk and I was absolutely thrilled.

Finally, the river card was turned. An ace, yikes! This care could be dangerous, but I decided to try out my bluff and raised. The pot was rather large now and I do think I wanted it more thank anyone else there. All of the players left turned their cards. They must have been bluffing, I was the only player with a decent hand! I was so happy I won that large pot and contemplated leaving, but was educated that in casino tournaments, I must play until my bankroll is depleted or until I place in the top 10. The excitement over took me and I continued until I was wiped out by the previous winner of this tournament. I was proud of myself for placing in the top 20, even though I lost my cash and did not win any of the prizes.

Jon was right, playing in a casino poker tournament did teach me a lot. I was able to understand the game on an even higher level than before. I have been to a few tournaments in the past year and do enjoy myself. However, nothing beats my convenient mobile poker program. I can take it wherever I go and place multiple bets. I will never, ever forget my first poker tournament.