Cloud Poker / Nick Cantwell / 18 December 2008 / Leave a comment

I played in the "John Crawley Benefit" poker game at the Empire, Leicester Square the other week.

John Crawley is an ex-England international cricketer, and the event was put on in aid of Multiple Sclerosis (my mother-in-law has MS, so I know a thing or two about it).

There were supposed to be numerous celebrities there - but amongst the celebrity fraternity who were rumoured to be playing, but didn't show were Teddy Sherringham, Michael Greco and Tim Sherwood.

Although in the field of 50(ish) were Annette Obrestad, John Tabatabai, Darren Gough, a Sky Sports news presenter and "The Cloud".

The game was a £100 re-buy event, which was slightly out of my bankroll (just a bit!).
I was sat at a table of people I didn't know, and I immediately realised that the best player on the table was a 20 year old (ish) female player. She was obviously clued up - seemed very interested in the tournament structure (which told me she was a serious player) - and I noticed straight away that she was very intently staring at any opponent she was in a hand with.

My first big hand was when I locked horns with the pro (I later found out she was professional player Liv Boeree). I raised from early (ish) with 99, and she re-raised me - staring at me the whole time. I found this slightly un-nerving - firstly because she was rather attractive, and secondly because she was rather attractive. I pushed, she called and she had AK.

We were racing!

The Ace and King on the flop weren't great....but the board turned into a flush, so we split the pot.

I then realised that I had outlasted Annette Obrestad (not because of my great play - but because she had a big game the next day, and was apparently going all-in most hands).

I got to the end of level three, which meant a break and the end of the re-buy period - so I'd survived intact. I did purchase the add-on and then we started playing again.

I was sat next to a mad woman from Singapore, who apparently spent most of her time at the Casino, and she was offering to pay for massages from the two massage girls who had entered the room. I declined, and I was glad I did, because the guy next to me had a massage that looked effectively like he was being beaten up - and when playing poker I prefer not to be beaten up (not great for the mindset I find).

I was pretty unlucky with my cards - and when I did have good ones I kept splitting pots - an Ace King against another Ace King - and I hit a straight on the river when my opponent hit a straight on the river. So I never really got ahead.

Eventually I found myself pretty short, and I was in shove-fold mode. My table collapsed and I was on the final two tables - and I was sat next to pro John Tabatabai - who is a fellow Betfair blogger. But I wasn't sat next to him for long - one hand in fact.

I found myself with A2 and shoved into 4 opponents (I think), but got two callers - one who had me covered, and a shortie.

The guy who had me covered had A5, and the shortie had QQ - so with A2 I was confident of a split pot against the A5, not so much against the QQ.

Another Queen came on the flop - so I was out of the reckoning against the shortie - but still had hopes of splitting with the other guy, but a 5 on the turn was to be my demise. I did have 4 outs to a straight on the river (which would have trebled me up), but didn't hit and I was gone in around 20th.

It was a really enjoyable night - and it raised around three grand for MS - which was pretty decent.

Related Readings

Multiple Sclerosis Society
John Crawley Benefit Site
Bert and Ernie play the Sunday Million - Cloud Poker
Switching from tournaments to cash - Cloud Poker