A quick weekend trip to Bangalore to cheer Adda52’s Team Spades at the TILT Poker festival and I had my first encounter at the very popular Rockets Poker Room. They not only offer an impeccable and uninterrupted poker experience but also live up to their name. I played and lost to players who claimed to be titling and consequently rubbed some of their action on me enabling me to TILT.
I was amidst great poker minds when I found myself on Seat 8, Table 5 of the 10K ‘The Dark Knight ‘Event. In my mind, I wished to take down the event and coin it ‘The Dark Lady’. But then, that’s what I truly am – A self hyped poker player. Squashed between Praveen Dwarkanath and Jaideep Sazwan, with Jasven Saigal and Shravan Chabbria for company, the poker learning was truely immense. Being the only lady on the table was perhaps not too difficult for me, don’t really know about the other players. I did hear a few ‘Mam’s’ and ‘Madam’s’ being hurled at me. Someone also applauded when I took an average pot down. But soon the plot thickened and before I could even refresh my poker hand rankings, I was out. I heard my opponent saying- Sorry, I couldn’t lay it down. Then, Shravan got up from his seat to see the third heart suit on the river and shook his head. Everyone smiled on the table as I got up after Jasven’s rivered a flush to beat my straight on the turn. I had done what I could but I couldn’t beat the pros. That’s why they are the players and I am merely a writer.
Pretending to hide my misery and avoid going on TILT, I decided to grab a bite. The ‘service’ soon found me and offered me a ‘dabeli’. Yummy, it hit the spot. I would also like to add here that I was quite impressed by the service staff at Rockets. Even if my hands went up in the air to stretch, someone from the catering would come and offer me water/juice. So after the meal was sorted, I decided to swim in murkier waters and try my ‘luck’ at the cash tables. I found my small stack and joined a cash table meant for professionals. In my endeavour to get into the minds of the players, I sat across 8 males of varying ages and regions who threw at me various poker jargons. I understood a little but continued to play in my style. Again, being the only female on the table worked to my advantage as well as disadvantage. Advantage because the perception was that I would be a tight player. Disadvantage because no one would call me even with continuation bets.
The hours went by and my small stack became smaller. One more bad beat where my Queens flopped a set and my opponent again escaped on the river saw me going on the inevitable TILT. But then, I did what very few poker players did. I decided to break for the night but, not before taking back some good memories of great interactions with Samoh, Praveen and RR. Thanks to these guys for organising a great tourney. It is definitely #goodforthegame as they say.
I also thank the poker players on both my tables (tourney as well as cash) for not holding any pre-conceived notions about me and helping me to play comfortably. It was great meeting Adda52’s Team Spades and exchanging some ideas with them. The huge turnout just reinstalled my faith in the fact that poker is a mind game and so many minds put together will only do #goodforthegame.