Memories - Pt 1

Its quite easy to forget that it was only a few short years ago that the biggest 'live tournament' I played in would have been the UK Championship £200 FREEZEOUT event held at Birminghams gasometer of a casino the Rainbow!

By squeezing 12 to a table and having players sit on anything they could find the club managed to get 140 players into what essentially was someones front room and parlour.

In those days of course, and I'm only talking 2001 here folks, the bi-annual events held at the club were what everyone who played poker at that time looked forward to more than any other UK poker event on the calendar.

Hotel rooms around the club would be booked up solid for the duration and anyone who was anyone on the UK poker scene would attend.

I tended to restrict myself to the £100 Pot Limit Hold'Em, the £100 (rebuy) Omaha and the main event itself. These would generally be held on the Thursday, Friday & Saturday of the weeks festivities.

In April 2001 I entered the £100 Omaha event with no more expectation of winning than a fox has of getting across the M6 motorway in twilight! After 3 rebuys I was at the end of my tank and had to borrow another buy-in from Tony C, now part owner of a poker club in Surrey England (www.thefullhouse.co.uk) but then just a carpet shop owner!

Remarkably I went onto win the event and £10,000 to boot. With 4 of us left at the table I got Aces, got all my chips in the pot, and knocked out a player. With 3 of us left I got Aces and knocked out another player. There was me & Dave Colclough left standing.

Bugger me...I got Aces again. Again all the chips went in and again they held up giving me the first prize! I've never again been that lucky!

As most clubs did in the early years of this millenium the Rainbow gave up playing cards and put in slotties. Bad move on their part but the Rainbow will always hold a special place in my heart!