Sports Betting took a back seat for me this past weekend as I was invited to play in one of the WPT Poker tournaments at Emperors Palace. GGGaming were kind enough to sponsor me into the opening event and I lined up alongside 183 poker players, the majority of which play far more poker than me. As much as I love poker I tend to run out of patience and if I was going to go deep in this one I needed plenty of discipline.

Gary from GGGaming had given me a sound strategy and I made it through the first night comfortably. As the second day begun, my cards went cold, but I was extremely disciplined and kept things tidy.

After a short break I returned to the table and the moment I played my first hand of the day everybody folded figuring I must have a high pair. Ironically I was dealt Pocket Aces shortly after and managed to double up my stack to the point where I must have been in the Top 5% in chips.

The strategy Gary had given me was working, but inexplicably I then started playing as if I was a Poker Pro. I had not even had time to enjoy the pile of chips in front of me, than I was sitting on the rails having been knocked out thanks to two crazy hands. I tried to bluff a couple of professionals or at the very least battle hardened poker players and they clearly saw me coming.

A few days later as I write this I am still constantly kicking myself, asking myself what I was thinking and why I didn’t stick to my plan and it occurred to me that while I worked out a strategy for the early stages of the Tournament, I never considered going deep and how I should play if I got into a strong position.

This lack of foresight ended up costing me and by Sunday I was back to Sports Betting unfortunately placing a losing rugby bet to end a disappointing weekend.

The poker though was a great experience for which I am grateful and I am hoping I can take some of the lessons and apply it to my monthly poker school and in particular our year end Tournament at the end of the month.

Twitter: @BrentGraham

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 21 November 2019.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register