I visited (and joined)
Gutshot Poker Club in London last night. It was my first B&M experience other than a few home games a few years ago when I didn't know a flush from a set. I wasn't too sure what to expect really but when I arrived outside it looked more like an internet cafe than a poker club. I went in and asked about the details. They explained to play I had to join the club, this was a very simple process and then they said well now you can play.
They showed me around the place. Upstairs there are a few card tables, a large bar area for drinks and food and, as mentioned earlier, a bunch of computers so that people could play poker online while waiting for a game.
There were a bunch of people already playing but this turned out to be an Omaha £5 rebuy tournament. I asked if there would be any cash games and they said that they would organise a table so that I could start, this would be what they called their "beginner" table, basically a £25 buyin pot limit hold'em game. They also run other cash games from £25 min/£50 max buyin PL games and £50 min buyin no max NL, PL, Omaha, a round of each, Dealers choice, etc, etc. They said though that these would probably start after the main tournament of the night and that the game they were going to get going for me would last an hour as they would need the table for the tournament.
I sat down with 9 other people, they were mostly waiting to start the tournament. I got my £25 chips, got told what the house rules were, the blinds (25p/50p) and started playing. The games were self dealt and after a few hands I was getting into the swing of things. I had trouble getting used to the pot limit betting structure and made a few mistakes but people were really helpful in making sure I did what I wanted to do and explain everything. Maybe they thought I was some kinda of fish or something. I decided to play tight and see what was happening. To say that peoples play was loose was an understatement and folding AJo to an early position raised seemed to be too tight. People were calling and raising with hands like 53o and 96s and chasing and raising with middle pairs and draws. I just sat and waited for a good hand.
My first big hand was AKo UTG, I raised the pot and got 5 callers! flop was rags and I bet £1 for information, a few people folded and 1 called. turn was a rag and was checked and the river brought a A, the BB bet £3 and i called. We split the pot as he also had AK. So not too bad a hand to get my feet wet with.
I then had nothing but bad cards and watched people call and raise like before. Just before the table broke up I got AJo on the button. We had the usual 4 callers and the the BB raised it to £4. i called an so did 3 others. The river didn't help much apart from a gutshot draw and I let the hand go as the BB raised it £10. 2 people called and the pot grew to around £90, the BB turned over QQ and the other 2 had nothing but bluffs!
The tournament started and I didn't choose to play as I felt that £50 buyin was a bit too much for me. I went and had a drink (or 3), talked to a couple of Swedish blokes who were visiting London. We put our names down to play on the same table once it was available. We didn't have to wait too long before we sat down with a new group of people. I still had my chips from earlier (£23) so used these. Again, I sat tight, waiting for hands and watched as people played, gambled and basically wanting action. At least this time the bluffs weren't as bad and people were mainly chasing draws and loosing to top pair hands.
I decided to loosen up a bit but be careful when there were a lot of early callers. I limped into a few pots and nothing much happened. Then I started a roll, I got TT UTG, raised the pot got 4 callers. Flop came 4J8 rainbow, I immediately raised the pot and everyone folded.
Next hand I played was UTG again and this time I got AQo, I raised the pot and got 2 callers. I hit a Q on the flop, raised the pot, got 1 caller. I was thinking about what he might have to call me. The turn brought a blank and was checked and so was the river. I bet £3 to see if I could get any value out of the pot and he called with A high.
The night followed a similar pattern of me playing tight, I mixed up my play a little and limped in from EP with hands like AQ and AJ which all paid off well in either getting action on the flop or being to fold when totally missed. People commented on my tightness, my play and some of the moves I made but it didn't stop people trying to play with me. I didn't play or show one bad hand or bluff and people would call my value bets.
As the tournament progresses people were looking for games and people left our game to go and chat, smoke upstairs, play at other limits or go home and new people joined in. The dynamics changed a bit and the table tightened up. My cards started running a little code and I wanted to make sure I stopped before I was either too drunk (well I thought after 5 pints I should stop playing), too tired or too hooked in and still there playing at 8 in the morning and trying to work out how to get to work.
After paying for drinks, food, taxi home and the table rake (on the lower table there was a £3 charge, on the higher limit tables there is a rake of 5% (£10 max)) I had turned my original £25 into £135, which I felt very happy about. I'm looking forward to my next visit and hopefully I can go on a night when there is a lower buyin tournament. One of the managers said that they have on average 2 tournaments a day, it's open 24 hours and sometimes run freerolls and satellites for big tournaments and this Sunday a freeroll WSOP qualifier with £10 rebuys (I might have to make that one).
