Bloggers / Nick Cantwell / 16 October 2008 / Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I received a poker e-mail in my inbox. As one of the four hundred poker e-mails I receive daily, I pretty much ignored it - until I noticed the words "win a share of £25k" in the title. Suddenly I was interested.

It was an invitation to a Betfair freeroll, where the top twenty players would win a seat at the WSOPE after-party event at the Empire, Leicester Square. So last Sunday night, I sat down in the living room with my laptop and tried to qualify. Four hundred players from all over Europe and me!

It started off swimmingly, and I built a nice stack - and then there were three hundred players left, then two hundred, and then a hundred. This was the stage where I actually began to think I might qualify, and it started to become exciting. I knew it was exciting, because when I become excited I start talking to the laptop - "yes, you beauty" - "ship it" - "fold, please fold". This is also the stage that my wife starts giving me some strange looks from the other side of the room.

We were suddenly down to near the bubble - and I was on the bubble line. I looked down and saw I had Ace-King. My stack wasn't huge, so I only had one option. I shoved....

And I got called. By a pair of eights. It's a coin-flip for my tournament life.

"Ace or King" I shout as the flop comes down. No Ace, no King.

"Ace or King" I shout, my voice a little higher, as the turn card appears. No Ace, no King.

"Ace or King" I shout, my voice so high that I shatter three windows and a pack of dogs surround the house. The river card appears. No Ace, no King....

I had failed at the very last, one hand away from qualification.

My journey was over.

Or so I thought.

On Tuesday afternoon I received a phonecall. A rather attractive sounding female voice was on the other end of the line - so I immediately had it tagged as a wrong number, but no, it was a Betfair representative. Some players wouldn't be able to make the live event, so I was asked if I'd like a seat. "Oh, go on then" I say, trying to sound cool, whilst doing a Peter Crouch-like robotic dance around the kitchen.

So now I'm all set and ready to go.

I have very little live experience, so my expectations aren't particularly high, and any kind of result I have will be a huge bonus - but with the free food and drink on offer I know it's going to be a very enjoyable day.

The game takes place this Saturday (18th October 2008), and I'll be back with a full report after the event.

Read more Nick Cantwell at Cloud Poker