TV / POKER: The Apprentice, American Idol and Poker in the Pub

What a weekend! I travelled back to Stoke to see mum – first chance I’ve had since she got quite a serious illness, so it was great to see her looking and sounding so well. There’s still some way to go before she looks completely OK, but she’s coping with it extremely well.

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it back in time for the footy as Stoke were playing Millwall at the Brit. I went to this game in London and sat with the Millwall fans [permalink back] and their side hasn’t improved since then. We were 2-1 winners on Saturday, keeping them rooted firmly in those relegation spots. That’s one team most other fans won’t shed a tear to lose from the division.

What kept me at home until 1pm on Saturday was some freelance work. Most people think having to do freelance work during what is traditionally a day off makes it a rotten job. But I’m writing this blog post on Monday afternoon as I speed back into London. Finishing today’s work at the weekend meant I was free to come home today rather than wedging myself into those awful packed Sunday night trains. Trust me, it’s worth a few hours of your time at the weekend to skip that nightmare. As it is, I’m on a midday direct train – something you don’t get on the Sunday night service that stops at any two-horse town with a station.

As well as seeing mum I also visited both my brothers to see how their kids are doing. My nieces are both starting to speak and are going to be a lot of fun. I wish I could get back more often as you really notice the difference a few months makes. I forgot my camera this time so no video footage. But then I still haven’t done anything with the footage I’ve already got. That’s one thing that needs sorting.

The weekend also provided plenty of opportunity to watch the telly. My family home is unashamedly a lowest common denominator house so I witnessed my first ever episodes of both The Apprentice and American Idol. [links to both] I can see the appeal of The Apprentice. The diverse bunch of people all climbing over each other to land a top job is engaging viewing. However, the Idol shows lose their appeal for me when they get past the appallingly awful people in the early auditions. Now you’re stuck with the same group every week doing their best karaoke impressions. Let’s face it, if that 16-year-old girl who sounds like a 30-year-old career singer doesn’t win there’s something wrong with the world. But I couldn’t invest months of regular viewing to see if justice is done.

Sunday brought an old delight and a new bonus. It was Carling Cup Final day, so it was off to the pub for some Sunday scoops. Wigan were chasing a cup win to crown a brilliant season and Man Utd were chasing exactly the same to give their fans a bit of much-needed silverware in an otherwise unremarkable season. What I hadn’t expected was a chance to indulge my poker obsession. But naturally the craze has reached a bunch of people who already keep the bookie across the road well fed with all their gambling. And at a £5 a game – winner takes everything except the £5 that second place gets back – how can you complain! If I could find a regular £5 buy-in game in London I’d play every week.

The game boasted some very different levels of play, not to mention some interesting Stoke pub rules. For instance, they can only get eight people around the first table, so unless you have enough to open another table they “Jack out”. Everyone bungs a quid on the table and a card is dealt to each coin. If your coin gets a dealt a Jack, you’re out and have lost £1. That helps build the kitty right off the bat. If there are more than 12 people who want to play they do “Ace or King in”. Cards are similarly dealt to each coin and anyone getting an Ace or a King gets a seat. Much to my delight my brother Simon and I pulled a seat in the first two games. All eight players pay their £5 fee, so first prize was £48.

As for the other interesting rules, they allow a re-raise of any amount. In most games you have to re-raise at least as much as the first raise. But in this game I could bet 200 and another player could make it 250 rather than having to bet at least 400. Very odd. And they burn a card before the deal. Not just before they deal the flop, the turn or the river, as your average casino would do. But they also burn one before they deal everyone's hands. Even though no-one could tell me why they did this and they all thought it was a stupid rule, we had to burn one every time before dealing.

I don’t like playing when I’ve had a few too many beers but luckily the game kicked off at the same time as the footy, so there wasn’t too much drinking time beforehand. Also, I had a rubbish view of the TV when we first went in but my seat at the poker table was right in front of it. Result! To start off I played my usual game, which was a mistake against a table with so many amateur players. They were happy to call big representations with middle pair and one hand I bluffed really hard cost me everything but 160 chips! He was calling with a pair of nines – top pair on the flop, but not when I bet the turn (King) and river (Jack). I think they were amused to see the London boy doing so badly and discussed my play like I was an idiot. I’m not sure they understood that I was bluffing, not betting my hand like it was any good! Luckily, I was dealt a pair of Aces next hand and trebled up. I then doubled that with a blind stealing raise with A9 suited – that was called by A5 off-suit. We both made three Aces on the flop so it would have gone in at that point anyway.

To cut a fairly long story short I came back to win. Not bad from 160 chips and I think the boys from 7-2offsuit [add link] would have been proud. One pub rule I did really like was that the blind goes up when a player goes out. This helped stop me making too many stupid moves when I did get back into that first game. The blinds stopped at five and 10 for an awful long time and I was able to sit back and see exactly how people were playing.

Better still, I won the second game too! I played much better in this one and was chip leader throughout most of the game. All I had to do was bet my hands and watch for some really obvious bluffs. It didn’t take long. Those players will all get better, but until they do I wish I could play here every week. I played a third game and even though the drink had flowed fairly freely by then, I was only knocked out by going all-in with two pair and getting called by a chaser who made his flush on the river. I got my money in with the best hand and I was happy to go home then.

Overall, it was quite a profitable day. We spent the whole afternoon in the pub and had quite a few rounds of drinks (although it is only £1.90 a pint in Stoke). I also threw a bit of cash Simon’s way for introducing me to the game and letting me play. I’d walked into the pub with £50 and the change in my pocket and I walked out with £83. When you consider that my train ticket to Stoke was £47 it almost paid for my whole weekend.

Maybe I won’t wait for my nieces to grow too much more before I head back to Stoke :)