On Saturday night I played in a live poker tournament. Not a very surprising thing for those of you that know me but this was a charity poker tourney. It was organised on behalf of Vicky's Water Project a great charity that was set up in Vicky's memory after she was tragically killed last year. Her fiance and friends have all been fundraising and the goal is to raise £250,000 to provide fresh drinking water to small communities in Africa.
Playing poker live is always a challenge but this was even more challenging than normal as I was playing 120 people of all skill levels - from beginner to advanced! What was even more challenging was knowing that the more you crashed out and bought back in..the more would be raised for the charity! Consequently in the first hour I played far more loosely than I normally would and re-bought in a couple of times.
A colleague of mine who doesn't play poker very often also played and I gave him a bit of a pep talk telling him to play only the good starting hands. How I wish I had followed my own advice! I crashed out 24th to find him still in and he eventually finished just shy of the final table.
It was a great fun evening and just reinforced to me why poker is such a great game. It is accessible to everyone, a great leveller and on this occasion a brilliant way of raising money.
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