The Coachman

July 17, 2008

My Pub Game

My Dad owns a pub, and Tuesday used to be the quietest day of the week. It’s a nice big pub with a lovely conservatory and every Tuesday there were about three people in there, it was a real shame. I have a fair bit to do with the running of the place and when we had to come up with some ideas, I only had one thing on my mind, POKER!!!!

So I get the go ahead, and manage to secure some excellent PokerHeaven cards from Paul Sandells. I get a load of tables and other paraphernalia from E-Bay, I purchase the tournament director online, mither Dik9 and Mr Mac to death about it and away we go. The first night, I held a tournament for all my friends from UKPokerLife. The support was amazing. Kev Stevens travelled to play from friggin Somerset!! Rich and Billyboy came up from Birmingham with the Poker Widow. Big Mac and Happy Meal brought along the Chorley massive and the Stoke players came in their tens!! Most of us had a great night, all of us got smashed, and the boost in takings more than paid for all the equipment so we’re free rolling from here on in, beautiful.

After a little initial interest and a couple of friendly games, with about 8-12 local players, things started to slide a bit.

By about the time the fourth week came around things didn’t look good. Being sat in a big empty pub with two new tables set up, all the chips, cards and seats laid out perfectly and, only three of us sat around the deserted poker table waiting for players to arrive who never really intended to show up, is not a pleasant place to be. You can see the couple of craggy regulars, and the fella and his Mrs having a quiet drink, just looking and whispering to each other “look at that prick, what he does he look like”. I should be used to people talking about me like this by now, but when it’s something I cared about, I was actually quite hurt (not that I showed it, being well ‘ard and everyfink)

Not to be dissuaded, I turned back to the place I can rely on, UKPokerLife. I made a conscious effort to text everyone who I knew locally at least twice a week, and the following week, we managed to fill a couple of tables. The weeks that followed, you could just feel the support building. Danno, Sleazy and Boydy came every single week with Sleaze’s flatmate Jason. The best couple in poker, Kev B and Jools, started to show their faces week in, week out with Matt L, and before I know it, I’ve got the man with the most misleading nickname I know, the Rage, coming weekly, with his lad Si, and occasionally his brother, the mighty Brasso. James W starts to show every week, with his wife Sam. Honk Cocklebags, Crewe Crazy and Jonah are there frequently and even Dik9, Andy D and Billyboy have shown their faces. Throw in excellent local support from Martin N, Chris ‘WTF is that T-Shirt’ Goward, Irish Mick, the mental midget Marje, Nick ‘Tenco’ peters, Matt ‘Segal’ Platt, PJ and the infamous Devil neck, and we’ve got a real poker game starting to roll here.

Tuesday nights are now my favourite night of the week by several thousand miles. The UKPL players are showing up in their numbers weekly and have the cheek to thank ME for putting on the game!! The local lads are enjoying it and the pub atmosphere is incomparable. The last few weeks have seen overflowing numbers in the poker, and as a consequence word has spread and the pub is packed to the rafters. Sitting back in a poker game, in my Dad’s packed pub, with the best people you could sit in a poker game with is something that I am privileged to be able to do.

Thank you to all of those that have made it possible. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

Posted by Squirmy | Filed Under My Thoughts, Pub Poker | Leave a Comment