Hi Guys,
I Had an interesting night of poker last night (Ok it wasn't on Sky Poker but as this is "General Poker Chat" I'm sure you will forgive me) and i thought i'd drop a post on here to the caring and sharing community types of sky's player pool.
I signed up a while ago for a new poker experiance owned and fronted by Neil Channing And Nik Persaud. (I'm sure all you players with your fingers on the poker pulse of the nation know about it and i won't name it here).
I'd always thought my game was OK for a recreational player and i've manageed a few big online tourney results. Sharkscope rates me pretty good as a scheduled MTT player for Sky (please if your gonna run the sharkscope thing on me don't look at SNG's cos i suck at them lol) and i enjoy the game.
I've never taken Poker that seriously as my bankroll managment sucks (everytime i secure a big win i have to cash it for one reason or another), and i'd always assumed that while i have a reasonable talent for the game on sites like this i could never hold my own against truly quality competition. (not that all of Sky arn't quality so before the post's start I KNOW YOU ARE ALL GREAT, however i'm not lol)
Well last night i got the chance to see!. There was a Freeroll for the members of the afore mentioned intiative where Mr Channing and Co put $5k on the line to 273 invited members. What was Different about this freeroll? well this one happened to have some of our countrys top pro's in it. Channing and Nik themselves played, along with Adam Latimer, Eoin Kennedy, Hugh Kirton, Jerome Bradpiece and even Jessie May !!
Some of the 273 had the good fortune to play most of the night without ever coming across one of the pro's. I however started with Nik Persaud on my table for an hour and then had to play the next four hours once moved with Adam Latimer on my table and Neil Channing to my left. 4 HOURS !!!! This post isn't about me beating the pants off a bunch of pro's and running on to a hero's welcome as the winner of the final table (Because my KK V's AA All - in pre flop took care of that lol). I didn't whoop the pro's but i did hold my own on a table with 2 of them for 4 hours (which is a long time online lol). In fact i managed to make a good laydown against channing, i managed to push him off a hands, get him to respect my raises (useful if you have to play Air into one of the best pro's in the country) and generally not look too out of place.
The point of this post i Guess is a little encouragment to those like my that play for recreation with a decent understanding of the game but always assumed they would get ripped apart in the company of better opposition. I'm not saying it's time for us all to go pro and teach these pro's a lesson but i have definatley gathered a huge deal of confidence from that game. If i can make my plays on the likes of my opposition last night then i can return to my general games feeling good about my general play and in the knowledge that i've got some tools in the cupboard so to speak.
I Have to say that each of the pro's i played last night were true gents and Channing in particular was more than happy to talk through how you had played a hand and offer some really good poker advice to any question asked of him. It was a great night and if you like me don't play ALL your poker on the one site (Though obviously this is the best one) i'd look it up !
To Answer some questions that may come up, Did i cash YES Did I final table NO (But i got closeer than i thought i would in that field) & Is this post just bragging about playing with some Pro's ??? Probably a little bit but if i can't do that here where can you lol
Comments
An excellent post and you certainly earned the bragging rights. Congratulations on your cash and may your poker go from strength to strength.
Out of curiosity what was the table and blind structure like in comparison to Skys, and no I am not thinking of switching my allegiance I am just curious how it compares.
On reflection it may have been 10 mins but with channing on my left time seemed to slow lol
In Response to Re: Testing My Metal Against The Pro's:
Cheers for the comment namesbond. It was a really good tourny to playCan't say there a big poker playing bunch so i thought I'd share it with all you kind people who actually know who people like Channing are lol
Gonna have to get me some new firends me thinks ;p
Sounds like a great tournament to have been invited to play in , so well done on a good performance.